OpenAI's PR Crisis

The? excitement around OpenAi’s?ChatGPT-4o?launch was generally unbridled?last week—but?enthusiasm for its voice was short-lived.?Right now,?OpenAI has its hands full with?a PR crisis?thanks to their introduction of "Sky,"?a?new voice?for ChatGPT reminiscent of Scarlett Johansson’s voice in the 2013 movie Her.

Her, in which?Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with an AI assistant voiced by Johansson, is?Sam Altman's favorite film. So when the "Sky" voice emerged on ChatGPT this past week,?users were primed to call out?just how much it resembled Johansson's voice. Predictably—considering?the opposition?artists and other creatives have held toward AI—the actress?responded unfavorably, criticizing OpenAI for using her likeness after?explicitly telling them no?when they had reached out to her back in September 2023 (when voice capabilities?were first being introduced?to OpenAI).

In her statement, Johansson publicly confirmed that she has hired legal counsel to address the matter, which?seems to have gotten?OpenAI's attention?(or at least the attention of its attorneys).?The?company?has since taken "Sky" down?and?issued?a statement?asserting that the voice?was?never intended?to sound like Johansson and claiming that the team developed the voice long before reaching out to her. Many, however, have pointed to?Altman's post to X?a week prior as?seemingly?self-incriminating.

Why it matters:?OpenAI's growth?and the coverage it has received of both its successes and blunders may be boosting public awareness about previously “inside baseball” marketing trade concerns. Topics?like legal provenance,?intellectual property ownership,?and?how each relate to?celebrity endorsements?are?becoming part of the cultural conversation.?(Johannson’s husband, SNL star Colin Jost, for instance,?went viral this weekend?for his candid reaction to a joke on the prompter regarding his wife's voice.)?Such instances and the?ensuing reactions from the?broader?public demonstrate?that increased media literacy?may create new?opportunities for?brands to participate in?accessible discourse?about important but previously esoteric subjects.

Other news and trends

• Samsung claps back at Apple.?Two weeks ago, there Apple’s hydraulic press commercial inspired backlash,?and now?Samsung's timely response?to the controversy?is making waves. Days ago, Samsung released its?own commercial?seemingly picking up where the hydraulic press left off, with a woman sifting through the damage and picks up a beat-up guitar. She proceeds to play it following sheet music on the?Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, and the clip ends with the tag line "creativity cannot be crushed." The ad?has gone viral?and been?championed?as a swift and culturally relevant brand activation to a competitor's failed moment.

• Microsoft Build 2024.?Microsoft kicked off its?three-day Build developer conference?yesterday, and the?expectation?is that there will be a plethora of product updates as well as AI announcements. One focus is Recall, the tech giant’s latest AI for Copilot Plus PCs that encompasses?a vast scope of capabilities?including logging one's work on all apps in Windows 11, tracking communications, remembering web searches, and more. Microsoft will also be expanding the reach of Copilot to businesses and developers with?a multitude?of AI-powered Copilot "agents"?that can perform tasks automatically and essentially behave as virtual employees.

• Blue Origin.?Two years after its first-ever crewed flight—and a year and a half after?a rocket failed mid-flight—Jeff Bezos's commercial space tourism company?launched a flight of six passengers?on Sunday from its facilities on a private ranch in West Texas. The mission was?as historical as it was successful, because it included 90-year-old sculptor and author?Ed Dwight?as a passenger, a former U.S. Air Force captain and?the first Black astronaut candidate?for NASA back in the 1960s. The event?marks Blue Origin's?seventh crewed flight and the 25th?mission to space as part of its?New Shepard?program.

• Trending across socials: Bridgerton.?“The ton” returned last Thursday with the first part of?Season 3, highlighting the story between Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington. The series has produced? viral moments?across the years, namely with the male protagonists' poetic?declarations?of love, and this season thus far has proven no different (#Bridgerton?on TikTok – 1.9M posts). People are already meme-ifying?the best moments, and the carriage scene at the very end of the fourth episode has?captivated everyone?for?obvious reasons, but also because of the music, as the scene features?an instrumental version?of Pitbull's "Give Me Everything Tonight."?

Contributors: Head of Social Content and Engagement Strategy Cristina Lawrence, Senior Vice President Jerry Lawrence, Group Vice President Andrew McKernan, and Senior Vice President Tammy Pepito. At Razorfish, we help brands define their higher purpose—the emotional reason why they belong in people’s lives. Ready to find your purpose? Learn more here.