Fortnite voice war: SAG-AFTRA accuses Epic Games of 'unfair labour practices' over Darth Vader AI

The US actors' union SAG-AFTRA has harshly criticised Epic Games for introducing a chatbot with the voice of Darth Vader in Fortnite, accusing the company of "unfair labour practices". The decision, which allows players to interact with a character that matches the iconic voice of the late actor James Earl Jones, has caused a real storm of outrage.

Here's What We Know

While Epic Games claims that Jones' AI-generated voice was used with the permission of his family, SAG-AFTRA denies this, saying that such a tool takes away work from other actors who could voice the character in video game form.

"We celebrate the right of our members and their heirs to control the use of their digital copies and welcome the use of new technologies that allow new generations to enjoy these legacies and famous roles," the union said in a statement. "However, we must protect our right to negotiate the terms of use of the voice that replaces the work of our members, including those who have previously done the work of recreating the iconic rhythm and tone of Darth Vader in video games.

SAG-AFTRA continues to accuse Llama Productions, the company that signed the contract with Fortnite, of "choosing to replace the work of live performers with AI technology".

"Unfortunately, they did so without giving us any notice of their intention or negotiating the terms with us. As a result, we have filed an unfair labour practice claim with the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) against Llama Productions.

Epic Games has not yet commented on SAG-AFTRA's statement.

As a reminder, SAG-AFTRA launched a strike last summer after claiming that it was unable to reach acceptable terms to protect its members from the use of AI.

However, for some reason, SAG-AFTRA misses the point that before his death, James Earl Jones transferred the rights to reproduce his voice to artificial intelligence.

Source: @ShiinaBR