James Earl Jones’ voice of Darth Vader is one of the most recognizable sounds in movie history — and now it’s at the center of a fight over the use of artificial intelligence.
On Monday, Hollywood actors guild SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor charge over the use of an AI-powered version of the iconic “Star Wars” villain’s voice in the massively popular video game “Fortnite.”
Last week, “Fortnite” started allowing players to recruit Darth Vader to their teams and take turns talking to him using conversational AI technology that replicates Jones’ tone and speech patterns for the George Lucas-created character. “Fortnite” is owned by developer Epic Games.
SAG-AFTRA filed the complaint against Llama Productions, a subsidiary of Epic that works on “Fortnite.”
“Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. “Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms.”
Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jones had allowed Lucasfilm and Disney to use AI and archival recordings to replicate the actor’s voice as Darth Vader for future “Star Wars” projects. Jones died in September. “Fortnite” said it had received permission from Jones’ estate to include his voice in the game.
“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,” the family of James Earl Jones said in a statement on Fortnite’s post on its website last week. “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.”
SAG-AFTRA said in a statement that it celebrates the rights of its members and their estates to control digital replicas.
“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,” the performers guild said.
AI remains a controversial topic in Hollywood, as actors and writers have raised concerns about the fast-growing technology harming their jobs. In 2023, actors and writers went on strike to fight for more protections in their contracts that addressed their concerns about artificial intelligence.
“Fortnite’s” use of Darth Vader’s voice wasn’t without other hiccups. Business Insider pointed to an example of where the voice was seen saying the F-word in the game and an Epic Games spokesman told Business Insider that a fix was made to stop Darth Vader from cursing within 30 minutes of it happening in-game.