SAG-AFTRA Slaps ‘Fortnite' With Unfair Labor Practice Complaint Over James Earl Jones' AI-Recreated Voice of Darth Vader
The actors union said Epic-owned Llama Productions 'chose to replace the work of human performers with AI technology' for the Star Wars-themed Fortnite Battle Royale mini-season that launched last week. 'Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms.' As such, SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Llama Productions.
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Reps for Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jones, who died in 2024 at 93, had signed off an agreement to allow his archival voice recordings to be used to recreate his younger voice from the Star Wars films for future Lucasfilm projects. In addition, Jones' family had granted permission for the use of his voice in 'Fortnite,' according to Disney, Lucasfilm and Epic Games. '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,' his family said in a statement. '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.'
But SAG-AFTRA said 'Fortnite's' use of Jones' AI-generated voice was not cleared by the union.
In its statement, the union said, '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.'
Voice actors repped by SAG-AFTRA have been on strike against several game companies (including Epic's Llama Productions) since July 16, 2024. In their 'best, last and final' offer on a new contract sent to SAG-AFTRA last week, the game companies made concessions with respect to AI. The most significant of these was the removal of a one-time payment option for unlimited pre-generated content per game; with that change, performers who consent to the use of an AI-generated digital replica would receive compensation for that use comparable to what they would have received had they directly provided services.
Last week, Darth Vader returned to 'Fortnite' as a Battle Royale boss, letting players scheme with the ultimate Sith Lord and speak with him using conversational AI. 'Be the first to recruit him and your whole team will be able to take turns talking to the Dark Lord,' Epic said in a May 16 blog post.
In 'Fortnite,' when players talk to the Darth Vader character, Epic Games 'securely processes the voice audio to generate Vader's responses, but audio and transcriptions of the conversation are not stored,' according to Disney.
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