Well, that certainly didn't take long...Just a few days after the AI Darth Vader created tons of controversy in Fortnite, SAG-AFTRA is ready to take action.
To enlist AI Darth Vader as your ally in Fortnite, you’ll first need to take him down in a boss battle. Once he’s defeated, a portal will appear—interact with it to bring him onto your squad. After recruiting him, players can even chat with him using Conversational AI, a feature that must be activated in the game’s settings for full interaction.
It's the use of Conversational AI, that's causing all the controversy. Through the use of this technology, players can tell the NPC Darth Vader to do all kinds of questionable things.
It seems Disney and Lucasfilm haven't acted fast enough, and now, SAG-AFTRA is stepping in.
In a press statement, the actor's union wrote, "We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of these legacies and renowned roles. 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 statement continues, "Fortnite's signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with A.I. technology. Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms. As such, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions. A copy of the filing can be read HERE."
This amount of bad press and the legal action taken by SAG-AFTRA likely means it's only a matter of time before the AI Darth Vader gets pulled from the game.
Fortnite: Galactic Battle is a time-limited, Star Wars-themed event bringing a galaxy of new content to the battle royale universe.
Rolling out fresh updates weekly, the event was originally intended to build towards an epic finale on June 7, 2025. Given the controversy, it will be interesting to see if the event continues on as planned or if it gets canceled.
Stay tuned for updates from GameFraggers as we continue coverage on this ongoing story. We expect EPIC games to issue a response very soon.