SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Fortnite’s production company, alleging that its use of an AI-powered James Earl Jones Darth Vader voice infringes on the union’s right to negotiate major changes to its collective bargaining agreement.
The union claimed that a signatory to its collective bargaining agreement, Llama Productions, made “unilateral” changes to terms and conditions of employment when Fortnite began employing the use of an AI-powered Vader voice starting Friday without giving the union notice or the ability to negotiate.
In its filing to the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, SAG-AFTRA argued that using this generative AI voice essentially displaces “bargaining unit work” — suggesting that actors could have been employed to play the Star Wars character — for the massively popular games platform.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Epic Games, which publishes Fortnite and is the owner of Llama Productions, for comment.
SAG-AFTRA members are not currently forbidden from working on Fortnite during the union’s ongoing Interactive Media Agreement strike, which hinges on AI protections for voice actors in video games. A sideletter in the union’s contract allows performers to work during a strike on particular titles that were in production prior to a certain date; in this case, titles that were in development before August 2023, as Fortnite was.
The Walt Disney Co. and Epic Games announced that Fortnite players would be able to recruit and chat with the Darth Vader on Friday. The use of the iconic voice of Jones, who died last year, was done in “close consultation” with the actor’s estate, the companies said in a blog post.
“Ask him all your pressing questions about the Force, the Galactic Empire … or you know, a good strat for the last Storm circle. The Sith Lord has opinions,” the post added.
In a statement about its unfair labor practice charge, SAG-AFTRA stated that it celebrated “the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas.” Still, “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 union added.
