The Screen Actors Guild union (SAG-AFTRA) filed an unfair labor practice charge against Epic Games and Fortnite signatory company, Llama Productions, over the use of AI for Darth Vader's voice in Fortnite.
As part of the ongoing Chapter 6 Season 3 in Fortnite, players can add Darth Vader as an NPC squad mate. While a part of your crew, NPC Darth Vader will utilize an AI version of James Earl Jones' voice to verbally converse with the team. Initially, the AI was seemingly untethered, which allowed players to get Vader so say everything from racial slurs, homophobic slurs, racial stereotypes, swears, and more. Developers were somewhat quick to fix this gross oversight and is, somehow, not the only issue that came about from AI Darth Vader.
SAG-AFTRA mostly takes issue with the fact that neither Epic Games nor Llama Productions provided the union with notice of their intent to use the AI voice nor did they bargain with SAG-AFTRA for appropriate terms. The union, which represents over 160,000 actors and artists, issued the following public statement.
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.
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.
