Actors Union Files Complaint Against Fortnite Over AI Darth Vader

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fortnite AI darth vader

Epic Games/Disney

Fortnite introduced an AI-powered Darth Vader model that can respond to the voices of speaking players, and it’s going about as well as you’d expect.

As soon as the AI Darth Vader was rolled out, Fortnite players immediately began manipulating it into saying offensive phrases such as curse words and homophobic slurs, or complete nonsense like “skibidi rizz.”

The official Fortnite Twitter account replied to one of the viral tweets of Darth Vader cursing, saying they “pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn’t happen again.”

The AI Darth Vader in Fortnite has not only turned into a creative and moral headache, but a legal one, too, as SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice charge against Fortnite’s production company Llama Productions, which is owned by Fortnite’s publisher Epic Games.

According to SAG, Fortnite’s use of an AI-powered James Earl Jones Darth Vader voice “infringes on the union’s right to negotiate major changes to its collective bargaining agreement,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“In its filing to the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, SAG-AFTRA argued that using this generative AI voice essentially displaces ‘bargaining unit work’ — suggesting that actors could have been employed to play the Star Wars character — for the massively popular games platform.”

“In a statement about its unfair labor practice charge, SAG-AFTRA stated that it celebrated ‘the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas.’ Still, ‘we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games,’ the union added.”

For what it’s worth, the use of James Earl Jones’ iconic voice as Darth Vader was approved by the late actor and his estate, having previously signed over the rights to his voice to Lucasfilm.

“James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it,” the actor’s family said in a statement that was shared by Epic when the AI Darth Vader feature was first announced.

“We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”

James Earl Jones, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 93 years old, made his debut as the voice of Darth Vader in the original 1977 Star Wars film and would reprise his role in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One, The Rise of Skywalker, and the animated series Star Wars Rebels. His voice was also generated using the AI tool Respeecher for the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.


Content shared from brobible.com.

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