Yesterday, SAG-AFTRA filed a complaint against Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, with the National Labor Relations Board for using a conversational A.I. to replicate Darth Vader’s iconic voice and cadence on the massively popular gaming platform. The guild, which represents and collectively bargains for the rights of voice, motion, and screen performers in their work, is not anti-A.I. technology. However, they cited Fortnite’s lack of notice using A.I., along with the platform forgoing the appropriate deliberation with SAG-AFTRA, as the reasoning for their filing.
In a statement released on May 19, SAG-AFTRA said, “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 … Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology.” The filing comes as SAG enters its ninth month of a strike against video game employers precisely over matters of A.I. protections and compensation for human performers and the use of their digital replicas.
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In 2023, SAG-AFTRA joined the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) in striking over similar concerns in live-action film and television. That strike lasted less than half as long as the current video game strike; however, given the complaint filed by the guild, it seems their concerns are valid. Before his passing last year, the voice actor behind Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, struck a deal with Disney allowing the company to use his voice recordings, likeness, and vocal style for future portrayals of the Star Wars villain. The agreement included the use of A.I.-powered voice synthesis to create new performances of Vader. What’s concerning is that Fortnite effectively created an A.I. Vader chatbot and bypassed all the proper channels. Not only did they flout Jones’s estate, the platform also took away work from human performers who would’ve been hired to perform and “match” Vader’s unmistakable style of speech.
Hollywood Should Be Concerned About A.I. Replications of Beloved Characters
This is an issue that doesn’t merely concern voice performers, but the entire film industry as a whole. Fortnite’s use of A.I. in portraying Vader demonstrated how easy it is to bypass the hard-won protections SAG-AFTRA put in place for its members. Yes, they filed a legal complaint, but Disney (and Llama Productions) have deep enough pockets to strike back in the courts. If Disney decides not only to buck the agreement reached with Jones and his estate on the use of his voice, but eschew using human performers altogether, Vader could be an even bigger part of the Star Wars Universe.
Beyond media such as film and games, this could also have major repercussions on how Vader’s likeness is used in merchandising and theme parks. Darth Vader is undeniably one of the most, if not the most, recognizable characters from Star Wars. What happens when the mega-corporation that profits off the character doesn’t have to pay for humans to play him? Vader would be more pervasive than ever, and it would be at the cost of the people like James Earl Jones, who channeled their craft and indescribable humanness to create him.
The use of A.I. in this manner puts all of Hollywood atop a very slippery slope. Since A.I., along with the protections and litigation around is still very nascent and evolving, how the NLRB rules will undoubtedly make a major impact on performers, particularly stars who’ve been around for decades like Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, just to name a few from the Star Wars Universe. There’s hours, if not days, of footage to train an A.I. on how to replicate them and potentially exploit them. Characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker living forever seemed inevitable, but after Fortnite’s flagrant disregard for protocol, it looks like the exploitation of these characters could too.
Fortnite is playable on PC and console platforms. Star Wars movie and TV content can be streamed on Disney+.
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