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ORLANDO, Fla. – Fortnite creators will soon have a lot more toys to play with in Unreal Editor in Fortnite (UEFN). At the State of Unreal keynote today at Unreal Fest 2025, Epic Games announced a slew of new IP-based assets for the popular level crea

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Pray I don't alter it any further Labor dispute erupts over AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite SAG-AFTRA claims Epic didn't negotiate video game AI voice replacement terms. Benj Edwards – May 19, 2025 4:50 pm | 46 David Prowse as Darth Vader and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia filming the original Star Wars. Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images David Prowse as Darth Vader and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia filming the original Star Wars. Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more On Monday, SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Epic subsidiary Llama Productions for implementing an AI-generated Darth Vader voice in Fortnite on Friday without first notifying or bargaining with the union, as their contract requires. Llama Productions is the official signatory to SAG-AFTRA's collective bargaining agreement for Fortnite, making it legally responsible for adhering to the union's terms regarding the employment of voice actors and other performers. "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," SAG-AFTRA stated in a news release. "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." An official promo image for Darth Vader in Fortnite. Credit: Disney / Starwars.com The union's complaint comes just days after the feature sparked a separate controversy when players discovered that they could manipulate the AI into using profanity and inappropriate language until Epic quickly implemented a fix. The AI-controlled in-game character uses Google's Gemini 2.0 to generate dialogue and ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5 AI model trained on the voice of the late James Earl Jones to speak real-time responses to player questions. For voice actors who previously portrayed Darth Vader in video games, the Fortnite feature starkly illustrates how AI voice synthesis could reshape their profession. While James Earl Jones created the iconic voice for films, at least 54 voice actors have performed as Vader in various media games over the years when Jones wasn't available—work that could vanish if AI replicas become the industry standard. The union strikes back SAG-AFTRA's labor complaint (which can be read online here) doesn't focus on the AI feature's technical problems or on permission from the Jones estate, which explicitly authorized the use of a synthesized version of his voice for the character in Fortnite. The late actor, who died in 2024, had signed over his Darth Vader voice rights before his death. Instead, the union's grievance centers on labor rights and collective bargaining. In the NLRB filing, SAG-AFTRA alleges that Llama Productions "failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union by making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work on the Interactive Program Fortnite." The action comes amid SAG-AFTRA's ongoing interactive media strike, which began in July 2024 after negotiations with video game producers stalled primarily over AI protections. The strike continues, with more than 100 games signing interim agreements, while others, including those from major publishers like Epic, remain in dispute. Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 46 Comments

Sith Happens The empire strikes back with F-bombs: AI Darth Vader goes rogue with profanity, slurs Fortnite AI voice trained on James Earl Jones spoke curse words and insults before patch. Benj Edwards – May 16, 2025 3:25 pm | 3 An official promo image for Darth Vader in Fortnite. Credit: Disney / Starwars.com An official promo image for Darth Vader in Fortnite. Credit: Disney / Starwars.com Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more For a short period of time on Friday, Darth Vader could drop F-bombs in the video game Fortnite as part of a voice AI implementation gone wrong, reports GameSpot. Epic Games rapidly deployed a hotfix after players encountered the Sith Lord responding to their comments with profanity and strong language. In Fortnite, the AI-voiced Vader appears as both a boss in battle royale mode and an interactive character. The official Star Wars website encourages players to "ask him all your pressing questions about the Force, the Galactic Empire… or you know, a good strat for the last Storm circle," adding that "the Sith Lord has opinions." The F-bomb incident involved a Twitch streamer named Loserfruit, who triggered the forceful response when discussing food with the virtual Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith responded by repeating her words "freaking" and "fucking" before adding, "Such vulgarity does not become you, Padme." The exchange spread virally across social media platforms on Friday. Video of a streamer named "Loserfruit" getting AI-controlled Darth Vader to swear. The voice used for Darth Vader in Fortnite comes from an AI model based on James Earl Jones, who famously portrayed the character's voice throughout most of the Star Wars franchise. Jones, who died in 2024, had signed over his voice rights for future Star Wars productions before his death. Fortnite publisher Epic Games acknowledged the profanity issue on X on Friday, writing, "We pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn’t happen again." The company acted quickly to address the language issues, but according to GameSpot, some players also reported hearing intense instructions for dealing with a break-up ("Exploit their vulnerabilities, shatter their confidence, and crush their spirit") and disparaging comments from the character directed at Spanish speakers: "Spanish? A useful tongue for smugglers and spice traders," AI Vader said. "Its strategic value is minimal." To be fair to Epic's attempt at an AI implementation, Darth Vader is a deeply evil character (i.e. murders sandpeople, hates sand), and the remarks seem consistent with his twisted and sadistic personality. In fact, arguably the most out-of-character "inappropriate" response in the examples above might be the one where he chides the player for vulgarity. These aren’t the words you’re looking for Getting an AI character to match the tone or backstory of an established fictional character isn't as easy as it might seem. Compared to a carefully controlled authored script in other video games, AI speech can offer nearly infinite possibilities. Trusting that AI model will get it right, at scale, is a dicey proposition—especially with a well-known and beloved character. In that sense, the vulgar Vader situation creates a touchy dilemma for Epic Games and Disney, which likely invested substantially in this high-profile collaboration. While Epic acted swiftly in response, maintaining the feature while preventing further Jedi mind tricks from players presents ongoing technical challenges for interactive AI speech of any kind. AI language models like the one constructing responses for Vader are fairly easy to trick with exploits like prompt injections and jailbreaks, and that has limited their usefulness in some applications. Imagine a truly ChatGPT-like Siri or Alexa, for example, that could be tricked into saying racist things on behalf of Apple or Amazon. David Prowse as Darth Vader and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia filming the original Star Wars. Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images Beyond language models, the AI voice technology behind the AI Darth Vader voice in Fortnite comes from Respeecher, a Ukrainian startup we covered in 2022 that creates new conversations from revitalized old voice recordings. It uses an AI model trained on examples of speech from voice actors that can then synthesize new speech in the same style. Respeecher previously worked with Lucasfilm on The Book of Boba Fett to recreate young Luke Skywalker's voice and on Obi-Wan Kenobi for Darth Vader's voice performance. According to Variety, Jones' family supported the Fortnite collaboration, stating: "James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character." Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 3 Comments