SAG-AFTRA Not Happy With Darth Vader AI

U.S. acting union SAG-AFTRA has accused Epic Games of unfair labor practices, and it’s all to so with its Darth Vader AI chatbot in “Fortnite”. The Darth Vader AI character was added to the game the other day, allowing players to interact with the character who responds in the voice of late actor James Earl […] The post SAG-AFTRA Not Happy With Darth Vader AI appeared first on Dark Horizons.

May 20, 2025 - 08:00

U.S. acting union SAG-AFTRA has accused Epic Games of unfair labor practices, and it’s all to so with its Darth Vader AI chatbot in “Fortnite”.

The Darth Vader AI character was added to the game the other day, allowing players to interact with the character who responds in the voice of late actor James Earl Jones as Vader.

Epic said in a press release that Jones’ AI-powered voice was used with permission from his family. That didn’t stop controversy though, not so much for the use of Jones’ voice but for how players manipulated the character into saying obscenities even with safeguards in place.

SAG-AFTRA however is taking issue with the use of Jones’ voice, arguing that the tool still takes work away from other actors who could’ve voiced the character in the game:

“We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles.
However, 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.
Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology. Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms. As such, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions”

Epic is yet to respond to SAG-AFTRA’s statement. SAG-AFTRA started a video game actors strike last summer after it failed to negotiate acceptable protections around the use of AI for its members. That strike remains ongoing.

Source: VGC

The post SAG-AFTRA Not Happy With Darth Vader AI appeared first on Dark Horizons.