A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Fortnite introduced Darth Vader to its character roster. Now, he’s back. In a post announcing the character’s re-arrival, Fortnite revealed that, with the permission of James Earl Jones’ estate, the character’s voice was made with AI.
“Strategize with the ultimate Sith Lord,” Fortnite wrote. “With your voice. And he’ll respond back using conversational AI.”
Vader’s AI voice is based on Jones himself, with his estate adding in a statement that “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.”
However, SAG-AFTRA has proven to be less than pleased with Fortnite’s use of AI.
According to the BBC, the union has filed an Unfair Labour Practice complaint to the US National Labor Relations Board. In the complaint, SAG-AFTRA claims that Llama Productions, the company behind `Fortnite, made “unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilising AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work.”
Because of this, SAG-AFTRA claims that Llama Productions failed to “bargain in good faith.”
In a statement to the BBC, SAG-AFTRA added: “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.”
Perhaps this will spark a new trend of voice actors being replaced with AI versions of themselves and others. While organizations like SAG-AFTRA have made it clear they’re ready to fight, a move like this from a big publisher could move the Overton Window on what consumers see as acceptable uses for AI.
