NEW YORK — After some users claimed that one of OpenAI’s ChatGPT voices resembled Scarlett Johansson—who was well-known for lending her voice to a fictional, and at the time futuristic, AI assistant in the 2013 movie “Her”—the company said it intends to stop using the voice.

OpenAI posted on the social media site X Monday that it is “working to pause” Sky, one of the five voices that ChatGPT users can select from. The business claimed to have “heard questions” and wanted to respond regarding how it chooses the realistic audio options for Sky, its main artificial intelligence chatbot.

In a companion blog post explaining the selection process for ChatGPT’s voices, OpenAI also quickly refuted the rumors circulating on the internet about Johansson.

Is That ‘Her’? OpenAI Pauses A ChatGPT Voice After Some Say It Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson

“Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” the business stated. “We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice.” It said that for privacy concerns, it could not provide the names of its voice performers.

Based in San Francisco, OpenAI remained silent about the reasons it continued to choose to suspend Sky’s use.

In September, OpenAI initially released ChatGPT’s speech capabilities, featuring all five voices and letting users converse with the AI assistant. Previously exclusive to premium customers, “Voice Mode” will now be free for all mobile app users, according to OpenAI’s announcement in November.

Additionally, ChatGPT’s interactions are becoming increasingly complex. Last week, the most recent version of OpenAI’s generative AI model was believed to be able to identify people’s moods and even imitate human cadences in spoken responses.

Is That ‘Her’? OpenAI Pauses A ChatGPT Voice After Some Say It Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson

The most recent model, GPT-4o, according to OpenAI, is faster than earlier iterations and has real-time reasoning capabilities for text, audio, and video. During a demonstration during OpenAI’s May 13 unveiling, the AI bot conversed in real time and responded to requests for “more drama” and other emotions in its voice. It also attempted to infer an individual’s emotional state from a selfie video of their face, provided assistance with language translations, solved math problems step-by-step, and more.

The abbreviation “omni,” GPT-4o, isn’t yet generally accessible. Over the next few weeks and months, it will gradually become available to a restricted group. The model’s text and picture features are already starting to be made available, even to ChatGPT’s free users. However, the new voice mode will only be accessible to ChatGPT Plus members who have paid for it.

The capabilities of these recently revealed features have prompted even more comparisons to Spike Jonze’s dystopian romance “Her,” which centers on an introverted man (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with an AI-operating system (Johansson), leading to several complications. However, most people still need to have a chance to use these features.

On the day of GPT-4o’s announcement, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also seemed to take advantage of this, merely publishing the term “her” on the social media platform X.

Many people who saw the model’s presentations last week also noticed that certain exchanges had an oddly flirty tone. A female-voiced ChatGPT commends an employee in one video that OpenAI aired for “rocking an OpenAI hoodie,” In another, the chatbot responds to praise by saying, “Oh stop it, you’re making me blush.”

Is That ‘Her’? OpenAI Pauses A ChatGPT Voice After Some Say It Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson

This has generated discussion about the gendered approaches critics claim tech corporations have long employed to create and interact with voice assistants—a practice that predates the most recent wave of generative AI, which enhanced the capabilities of AI chatbots. 2019 saw the “hardwired subservience” inherent in default female-voiced assistants (such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa), even in the face of sexist taunts and abuse, according to the UN culture and science body.

In a story this week, Desi Lydic, senior correspondent for The Daily Show, remarked of GPT-4o, “This is clearly programmed to feed dudes’ egos.” “It’s obvious that a man created this technology.”

SOURCE – (AP)

With innovations like popcorn shrimp and “endless” seafood offers, Red Lobster, the casual dining restaurant that popularized seafood, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The 56-year-old chain filed late on Sunday following the closure of numerous locations.

“Red Lobster’s best course of action in the future is this restructure. CEO Jonathan Tibus stated, “It enables us to overcome multiple operational and financial obstacles and come out stronger and refocused on our growth.” Expert in corporate reorganization, Tibus assumed the company’s senior position in March.

Red Lobster Seeks Bankruptcy Protection Days After Closing Dozens Of Restaurants

Red Lobster announced that its restaurants will stay open during the bankruptcy process, which aims to streamline operations, close locations, and explore a sale. As part of the filing, Red Lobster entered into a “stalking horse” arrangement, which means it intends to sell the company to a company created and managed by its lenders.

According to Aaron Allen, the founder of the restaurant consulting business Aaron Allen & Associates,s bankruptcy was the result of two decades of problems for the company. The company has faced rising competition from quicker-moving, less expensive restaurants like Panera and Chipotle.

Red Lobster occasionally drops its prices to compete, a frequently catastrophic strategy. When crab prices increased in 2003, the company lost millions of dollars on an all-you-can-eat “Endless Crab” campaign, according to Allen. Twenty years later, the chain repeated the same strategy with an “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” campaign.

“It’s an interesting case study in corporate food service that they would have this kind of corporate amnesia,” Allen remarked.

He claimed it saw greater success after Red Lobster rebranded itself as an upscale eatery in the middle of the 2000s. It remodeled stores and increased pricing. However, it continued to face challenges from shifting consumer preferences and growing labor and leasing expenses.

Allen stated, “This slow-moving train wreck has been in motion for the past 20 years.”

Based in Orlando, Florida, Bill Darden started the resturant to lower costs and increase the accessibility of seafood restaurants for families.

Red Lobster Seeks Bankruptcy Protection Days After Closing Dozens Of Restaurants

In 1938, Darden launched The Green Frog in Waycross, Georgia, marking his entry into the restaurant industry. Even though it was against the law then, he dared not separate the restaurant’s guests based on race. Again, he let patrons seat wherever they pleased when he launched the first location in Orlando in 1968.

In 1970, Darden sold it to General Mills, where he remained an executive and continued to operate restaurants. Afterward, General Mills founded Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and several other brands. In 1995, Darden Restaurants separated from General Mills.

Red Lobster attracted hordes of devotees for meals like lobster linguini and its buttery Cheddar Bay biscuits

Nobody who was born in the world could not enjoy Red Lobster cheddar biscuits. In her memoir “Bossypants,” comedian and actress Tina Fey stated, “Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar and a socialist.”

However, the restaurant needed help to attract younger patrons and stay competitive with other eateries. In 2014, Darden Restaurants sold to a private equity firm. One of the biggest seafood suppliers in the world, Thai Union Group, made its initial investment in Red Lobster in 2016 and increased it again in 2020.

Then, during its “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” promotion last fall, they lost millions of dollars by charging $20 for an all-you-can-eat shrimp feast.

In an earnings call with investors, Thai Union Group’s chief financial officer, Ludovic Garnier, stated, “We knew the price was cheap, but the idea was to bring more traffic in the restaurants.

Garnier reported that restaurant traffic increased as a result of the transaction. However, more customers than Red Lobster had anticipated chose the $20 offer, and “we don’t earn a lot of money at $20,” he said. Thai Union Group reported a $19 million loss from Red Lobster for the first nine months of 2023.

Thai Union Group declared in January that it would sell its minority stake in Red Lobster. According to CEO Thiraphong Chansiri, the COVID-19 epidemic, business challenges, and growing operating expenses have severely impacted the restaurant chain and resulted in “prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders.”

Red Lobster Seeks Bankruptcy Protection Days After Closing Dozens Of Restaurants

According to a statement made last week by restaurant liquidator TAGeX Brands, the equipment from more than 50 recently closed Red Lobster locations will be up for sale. As a result of the restaurant closures, which are occurring in over 20 states, Red Lobster’s footprint is being diminished in places such as Denver, San Antonio, Indianapolis, and Sacramento, California.

Allen anticipates that due to the bankruptcy proceedings, 700-restaurant network will decrease by one-third to half. All that many prospective purchasers seek is the chain’s real estate.

He predicted the buyer would likely want to keep Red Lobster the same.

In the court statement, Red Lobster stated that its assets are believed to be between $1 billion and $10 billion, with over 100,000 creditors. The corporation’s liabilities are between $1 billion and $10 billion.

SOURCE – (AP)

A former OpenAI executive who quit earlier this week warned Friday that safety has “taken a backseat to shiny products” at the influential artificial intelligence firm.

Jan Leike, who led OpenAI’s “Superalignment” team with a business co-founder who also left this week, stated in a series of posts on the social media platform X that he joined the San Francisco-based startup because he believed it was the ideal place to conduct AI research.

“However, I have been disagreeing with OpenAI leadership about the company’s core priorities for quite some time, until we finally reached a breaking point,” wrote Leike, who resigned on Thursday.

A Former OpenAI Leader Says Safety Has ‘Taken A Backseat To Shiny Products’ At The AI Company

By training, Leike, an AI researcher, feels there should be a greater emphasis on preparing for the next generation of AI models, including safety and studying the societal consequences of such technology. He stated that developing “smarter-than-human machines is an inherently dangerous endeavor” and that the company “is shouldering an enormous responsibility on behalf of all of humanity.”

“OpenAI must become a safety-first AGI company,” stated Leike, using the shortened term of artificial general intelligence, a futuristic concept of robots that are as generally intelligent as humans or can do many things as well as people.

Open AI CEO Sam Altman responded to Leike’s postings, saying he was “super appreciative” of his efforts to the firm and was “very sad to see him leave.”

A Former OpenAI Leader Says Safety Has ‘Taken A Backseat To Shiny Products’ At The AI Company

Leike is “right, we have a lot more to do; we are committed to doing it,” Altman added, promising to publish a lengthy post in the coming days

The company also stated on Friday that it has disbanded Leike’s Superalignment team, which was formed last year to focus on AI threats, and will integrate the team’s personnel into its research operations.

Leike resigned after OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever announced his departure on Tuesday after nearly a decade with the company. Sutskever was one of four board members who voted to remove Altman last October, only to quickly reinstall him. Sutskever informed Altman that he was fired last November, although he later admitted he regretted doing so.

A Former OpenAI Leader Says Safety Has ‘Taken A Backseat To Shiny Products’ At The AI Company

Sutskever stated that he is working on a new project that is meaningful to him but did not provide further specifics. He will be succeeded by Jakub Pachocki as head scientist. Altman described Pachocki as “also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation” and stated that he is “very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.”

On Monday, OpenAI demonstrated the most recent version of its artificial intelligence model, which can emulate human cadences in vocal responses and even attempt to discern people’s moods.

SOURCE – (AP)