Meta's AI Ambitions: From ChatGPT-like Features to Hollywood Voices

Meta looks to bring a much-desired ChatGPT feature to Meta AI

Meta is reportedly seeking to revive a popular mid-2000s feature of TomTom Navigator by outfitting its ChatGPT alternative Meta AI with a range of celebrity voices. According to Bloomberg and The New York Times, the social media giant is currently in talks with the uniquely voiced talents of Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, and Dame Judi Dench, as it seeks to bring a little more personality to its personal assistant ahead of its September Connect event. Last year's Meta Connect event saw the company's AI power multiple text-only celebrity-fronted chatbots, including a Snoop Dogg 'Dungeon Master', a true crime expert in Paris Hilton, and several other archetypes of characters using the likenesses of famous folk such as Kendall Jenner, Tom Brady, and Naomi Osaka. Meta reportedly paid up to five million dollars for each celebrity's likeness to feature in these Meta AI personalities across a two-year duration. However, the company has already discontinued its chatbot experiment and is reportedly "racing" to close deals with Hollywood talents to secure the rights to their voices for a new project -- potentially to feature as the wider voice of its Meta AI experience. If successful, Meta AI will have been able to secure something that ChatGPT makers tried and failed to do (and may have potentially damaged all hopes of procuring again in the future) with its controversial "Sky" voice that very closely resembled that of actor Scarlett Johansson. In May of this year, OpenAI found itself in yet another spot of controversy after showcasing the new advanced voice features of GPT-4o by using a voice profile of "Sky" -- which bared more than an uncanny resemblance to actor Scarlett Johansson. The claims that ChatGPT's female persona was based on Johansson's voice only grew stronger after OpenAI's CEO posted a one-word tweet referring to the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her, in which Johansson voices the film's AI companion. Johansson would later reveal that OpenAI had approached her months before the unveiling of GPT-4o over the possibility of voicing its latest version of ChatGPT, but had declined the offer. In turn, Johansson was left "Shocked" and "Angered" after hearing the "Sky" persona, claiming that her "Closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference" between the chatbot's voice and her own. OpenAI has since removed the voice profile from its platform, but the company's underhanded tactics may have damaged the possibility of gaining the celebrity-fronted talents it originally sought, as well as made Meta's job all the more tricky with procuring its own. Bloomberg reports that while talks are going ahead with various celebrities over the use of their voice for the Meta AI platform, negotiations have been subject to several stalls while parties find agreement over terms of use. While Meta is seeking to use celebrity voices for a fixed term in one of its projects, representatives are reportedly seeking stricter limits. It's unknown if Meta has already managed to broker deals with other celebrities ahead of Connect 2024. However, if talks go ahead, it would seem that Meta is more than willing to splash the cash to bridge the struggle of negotiation and gain some big-name backing for its chatbot going forward. As for what these celebrity voices will be used for, we'll likely have to wait for Meta's Connect event in September to find out in full.

The Morning After: Meta is reportedly offering millions to get Hollywood voices into its AI projects

According to Bloomberg and The New York Times, Meta is in talks with the likes of Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina and Dame Judi Dench, among others, for its AI projects. The company apparently intends to incorporate their voices into a conversational generative AI-slash-digital assistant called MetaAI, which is rumored to be like Siri and Google Assistant, which could live within Facebook, Meta hardware, and all the other parts of the multimillion-dollar social network company. The actors' representatives are still negotiating for stricter limits, though SAG-AFTRA has reportedly agreed on terms with Meta. SAG-AFTRA, if you recall, fought for provisions to protect actors from the threat of job loss due to AI. Didn't Meta already do something like this? Yes. During its Connect event last year, the company also introduced with 28 "characters" voiced by celebrities, including Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Dwyane Wade and Kendall Jenner. However, those celebrity chatbots' pages have since disappeared, and The Information reports that Meta has just quietly scrapped that project. This appears to be more central to Meta's AI ambitions. You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! Payments relating to a class action lawsuit filed in 2018 over Apple's butterfly MacBook keyboards have reportedly begun. The settlement website now states that payments for approved claims will go out in August, and claimants will receive checks. For some, it could mean a check of up to $395. After Apple introduced the butterfly keyboard in 2015, complaints arose over "sticky" and unresponsive keys. A lawsuit filed in 2018 accused Apple of knowing its keyboards had problems and concealing this from consumers. While Apple denied the lawsuit's allegations of defective keyboards, it agreed to pay $50 million as part of a settlement. It also started phasing out the keyboard design in 2019. Continue reading. A guest who appeared on a podcast to boast about a hack-and-payback scheme involving his victims' social media accounts is now facing the wrath of the FBI. It received a tip about Qibaa's alleged extortion scheme on April 1, pointing to his appearance on the No Jumper podcast. Qibaa outlined a financial scheme using over 200 victims' social media accounts, in which he would lock them out of their pages and charge them to regain access. He added he made about $600,000 a month. Continue reading. Game Informer announced its parent company, GameStop, is shutting the magazine after 33 years in the business. The entire website and its archives are gone, redirecting to the magazine's final statement of thanks to its readers. The publication's content director, Kyle Hilliard, said on X the bad news about the mass staff layoffs landed right when they were in the middle of creating an issue. Game Informer launched in August 1991 with Sonic the Hedgehog sprinting across its cover.