The American performers' union SAG-AFTRA has filed a charge against Fortnite subsidiary Llama Productions over unfair labor practices after the company replicated this iconic actor’s voice using artificial intelligence (AI).
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has filed an unfair labor charge against Llama Productions for replicating the voice of James Earl Jones in Fortnite, who voiced the iconic Star Wars character, Darth Vader.
Llama Productions, which is owned by Fortnite maker Epic Games, has been hit with a filing that claims the company “failed and refused to bargain in good faith” and made “unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union.”
SAG-AFTRA said in a press release that it must protect bargaining terms and conditions regarding “the uses of voice that replace the work of our members.”
The union represents roughly 160,000 performers, from actors to journalists, who “are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world.”
The union claims Llama Productions consciously replaced human performers with artificial intelligence.
“They did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms,” SAG-AFTRA said.
Earlier in May, Fortnite announced that it would be introducing a new character into its game, Darth Vader.
The voice of James Earl Jones, the actor who voiced the villain in the franchise, will be able to respond to users in real-time by answering questions and remarks using AI.
While this character was only recently introduced, users were ready to jailbreak the AI, and videos of users doing this went viral online.
Users were able to make Darth Vader use curse words and vile language when responding to their questions.
A gamer asked the character what “freaking, fucking” food he eats for nourishment.
Darth Vader responded saying: "Freaking? Fucking? Such vulgarity does not become you, Padme. You inquire about sustenance and yet speak like a common thug. As for what sustains me, you would not comprehend its composition.”
Following these incidents, Fortnite released a hotfix to resolve this issue and stop this from happening in the future.
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