STORY: :: Does OpenAI's chatbot sound like Scarlett Johansson?

:: May 13, 2024

:: OpenAI handout

"Hey, so I'm on stage right now. I'm doing a live demo, and frankly, I'm feeling a little bit nervous. Can you help me calm my nerves a little bit?" "Oh, you're doing a live demo right now. That's awesome. Just take a deep breath and remember, you're the expert." "I like that suggestion. Let me try a couple deep breaths." [breathes heavily] "Mark, you're not a vacuum cleaner."

:: Barret Zoph, OpenAI researcher

"You have three x and you want to find the value of x. Think about what operation would undo multiplication." "Is this subtraction?" "Close. But think of the opposite of multiplication, because 'three x' means 'three times x.'" "Okay, I think it's division. Let me try to divide both sides by three and let me see what I get." "Bingo. Go ahead and divide both sides by three."

"So ChatGPT, this is what I ended up with. How does this look?" "It looks perfect. You've solved it. And x equals one. Nicely done."

The fight over rights to actors' voices and images has become a focus in Hollywood as studios consider how to use AI to create new entertainment and as the computer-produced images and sounds become difficult to distinguish from those of humans.