SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice against Epic Games over the inclusion of an AI Darth Vader NPC in Fortnite.
SAG-AFTRA affirms that Epic Games acted unfairly by replacing workers with artificial intelligence technology to create the Darth Vader NPC added to Fortnite with patch v35.10. On May 16, Fortnite released an update for Galactic Battle, its Star Wars-themed mini-season. Gamers had been waiting for an update for two weeks, so they were eagerly anticipating the new content that would come with the patch.
They became even more excited when the leaks that were published before servers came back up revealed that an AI-powered Darth Vader would be added to Fortnite. As soon as the patch went live and servers were back, players quickly got into a match and looked for him at his possible spawn locations so they could fight him and get him to join their team, as the first talking companion in Fortnite. Fans immediately started testing what Darth Vader would respond to and what subject matters he would avoid.
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Epic Games used AI to replicate James Earl Jones’s voice, the most iconic actor to voice Darth Vader. SAG-AFTRA was quite displeased with this because instead of resorting to human workers to program and create this interactive Darth Vader AI, Epic simply used artificial intelligence. It claims that by doing so, it took away the jobs of humans, which is why SAG-AFTRA is filing an unfair labor practice charge against Llama Productions, Fortnite‘s signatory company.
Fortnite Subject to Unfair Labor Practice Charge Due to AI Usage
Even though James Earl Jones’s family has commented that they are okay with Epic Games’s decision to bring Jones back through AI to voice Darth Vader, this does not change the fact that it could’ve employed people if it didn’t rely solely on AI tech. By not speaking with the union prior to releasing the NPC, it is considered that Epic Games refused to bargain with SAG-AFTRA, taking away their option to negotiate terms and conditions about the AI character.
While artificial intelligence can be a highly effective tool for a variety of purposes, it is also an extremely controversial topic in certain communities because every day it is costing more people their jobs, contributing to a higher unemployment rate. While the addition of an AI Darth Vader to Fortnite sounds like great fun, it has already sparked a lot of discussion and has become a source of anger among gamers. Not only because of this potentially unfair practice, but also because streamers and players quickly started and succeeded in making it say a mouthful of inappropriate words and sentences.
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