The 12-year campaign to free Ross Ulbricht — the criminal mastermind behind the Silk Road, the original crypto-enabled dark web mail-order-drug emporium — finally ended in January, when newly-minted second term president Donald Trump officially pardoned the bitcoin criminal.Now, Ulbricht is picking up where he left off, getting his first taste of a world he left behind in 2013 when a federal judge sentenced him to two counts of life in prison, plus 40 years without parole.In sum, Ulbricht's feeling some culture shock. Taking the stage at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas this week, the drug kingpin was agog at the piles of kitschy tech products that had passed him by."When I walked out of prison a few months ago, I’d never seen a drone, used AI, or tried VR. I hadn’t even chatted with AI," Ulbricht marveled. "Now it's all hitting me at once — the freedom, the technology, the fact that I have a future again."He also basked in the glow of the crypto community's love — a parasocial following that lavished his clemency petition with over 600,000 signatures and an astonishing number of right-libertarian micro-celebrity endorsements."You didn't abandon me. You didn't forget me. You wrote me letters. You raised money for my defense. When I was silenced, you spoke up against the slander and the smears," the former dope baron lauded.Keep in mind, this wasn't a political activist jailed for protesting an unjust war, or a whistleblower whose life was destroyed after revealing a massive corporate fraud scheme.This is a guy who made millions selling drugs to teenagers and communities ravaged by the opioid crisis, resulting in at least six overdose deaths that we know of.At its peak in 2013, Ulbricht's Silk Road saw an estimated daily connected user base of 5.5 million. In just two years, it processed some billion in illicit sales, according to the Department of Homeland Security.Through transaction fees, the service generated over million worth of Bitcoin. Authorities in 2014 called it the "most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet."Of course, Ulbricht's saving grace isn't some ethical dilemma Trump has over incarceration or judicial mishandling, but the fact that he built Silk Road off the then-nascent blockchain. That single fact has cemented his status as a crypto superstar.For context, out of the 1.2 million citizens incarcerated in the US, over 360,000 of them face charges of nonviolent drug possession.In 2023, there were roughly 870,000 arrests for drug-related charges, the vast majority, or 87.8 percent of which were for drug possession — in other words, for carrying an impossibly tiny fraction of the volume that passed through Ulbricht's drug empire every minute.With his new lease on life, Ulbricht plans on paying it forward — not as an advocate for carceral reform or prison abolition, but to the crypto community of get-rich-quick schemers and granny scammers."With so much speed and chaos, it’s more important than ever to stay true to our principles," he told the crowd of cryptobros. "If we agree that we deserve freedom and thatdecentralization secures it, we can stand together. Have each other’s backs, as you had mine. Freedom, decentralization, unity — stay true to these, and the future is ours."More on crypto: Visitors At This Bitcoin-Heated Spa Are Complaining About Mold and UTIsShare This Article #suddenly #freed #prison #silk #road

Sen. Maggie Hassan has asked Spotify about its moderation policies after a BI investigation. Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP 2025-05-24T18:31:51Z d Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Sen. Maggie Hassan is demanding answers from Spotify over fake podcasts that pushed opioids. In a letter, Hassan asked Spotify to "take action" on the phony content. Hassan's letter comes after a BI investigation found 200 podcasts on Spotify peddling opioids. A senator is demanding answers from Spotify about its handling of fake podcasts that promoted opioids and other prescription drugs.In the wake of a Business Insider investigation that found 200 phony podcasts on Spotify advertising the sale of pills, often without a prescription, Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire urged the digital music and podcast company to moderate its content better.Some of the podcasts were removed after BI previously flagged them to Spotify."I urge you to take action to prevent fake podcasts that facilitate the illicit sale of drugs — including those that could contain fentanyl — from appearing on your platform," the two-term Democratic lawmaker said in a letter to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek."Addressing these threats requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and based on recent reports, Spotify has not exercised the level of diligence needed," she continued.In response to BI's investigation earlier this month, a Spotify spokesperson said: "The content in question has been removed because it violates our Platform Rules. We are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service." In response to Hassan's letter, a company spokesperson on Saturday referred BI to its earlier statement.Many lawmakers across the United States have long sought to address the scourge of opioid abuse, which increasingly comes in the form of fentanyl.Fentanyl trafficking is a major issue for President Donald Trump, who has accused Mexico, Canada, and China of allowing the drug to be transported into the United States. Trump imposed tariffs on those countries in part to force them to do more to stem the flow of fentanyl.In her letter, Hassan, a former governor, spoke of the "heart-wrenching conversations" that she's had with constituents in her state who've lost family members or friends to drug overdoses."The scale of the fentanyl crisis requires cooperation among law enforcement, online platforms, and international partners to protect our communities," she said.Hassan also asked Spotify to detail its moderation tools and policies and inquired about the number of drug-related podcasts it has had to remove. She asked whether the platform received any revenue from the removed podcasts.The lawmaker, who serves on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, gave Spotify until June 12 to respond to her inquiries."We are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service," a Spotify spokesperson said in response to BI's investigation.Read the full letter here: #read #letter #senator #sent #spotify

May 18, 2025Accidental Alchemy, Flamingo Food Tornado, and Kosmos-482 LandsKosmos-482 crash-lands, physicists turn lead to gold and animals show some clever behaviors. Anaissa Ruiz Tejada/Scientific AmericanSUBSCRIBE TO Science QuicklyHappy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, this is Allison Parshall filling in for Rachel Feltman. Let’s kick off the week with a quick roundup of some of the latest science news.First, an update on that doomed Soviet-era spacecraft Rachel mentioned last week. After spending more than half a century orbiting Earth, the Kosmos-482 probe made a crash landing on May 10. According to a post on the app Telegram from Russian space agency Roscosmos, the spacecraft crashed into the Indian Ocean somewhere west of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Space.com reports that other space agencies have estimated different landing spots for the probe, from locations on land in South Asia to stretches of the eastern Pacific. We may never know exactly where Kosmos-482 finally came to rest. In any case, we haven’t heard any reports of falling space junk causing harm to humans, so it seems likely the object crashed somewhere out of the way.Now for some accidental alchemy. Despite the wishes of medieval scholars, there’s no way to turn lead into gold, right? Wrong. Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider apparently did just that—very briefly, but still. The scientists published a description of this magical-sounding transformation earlier this month in the journal Physical Review C. On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Here’s how it worked: Scientists at CERN use the Large Hadron Collider to study the early universe by firing lead nuclei at one another at nearly the speed of light. Instead of smashing head-on, the nuclei usually pass very close to one another. In these near-misses, the powerful electric field from one nucleus can shake up the other. If the field is strong enough, it can knock out three protons from an incoming lead nucleus. Since gold has three fewer protons than lead, this transforms the lead into gold.The researchers estimate that 89,000 gold nuclei are produced per second during these experiments. That means that between 2015 and 2018—the accelerator’s second run, which is when the scientists collected this data—the collider produced 29 trillionths of a gram of gold. Unfortunately for any prospectors at CERN, those atoms tend to get obliterated in about a microsecond. Nature reports that another CERN accelerator also observed this alchemical reaction during a 2002 to 2004 run. But because that experiment used less energy, less gold was produced.In public health news, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released last Wednesday indicates a massive drop in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024. In the 45 years that the CDC has collected equivalent data, the biggest one-year dip seen previously was 4 percent in 2018, according to the Associated Press. Deaths dropped from about 110,000 in 2023 to roughly 80,000 in 2024, which represents a nearly 27 percent decrease. The AP reports that experts mentioned several possible factors behind the drop, including the increased availability of naloxone for treating overdoses.It’s important to note that, while this is promising news, we still have a long way to go. Overdose deaths are still higher than they were before the COVID pandemic, and overdose remains the leading cause of death for people in the U.S. between ages 18 and 44. If you don’t already carry naloxone with you in case you encounter someone experiencing an overdose, consider looking into what resources your state and county offer for training and distribution. You can check out GetNaloxoneNow.org to find more information.We’ll wrap up with a couple of fun animal stories.Let’s start with flamingos. They’re not exactly known for being very active. You’re probably picturing the birds standing calmly in crystal clear water. But according to a study published last Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they’re surprisingly busy just beneath the surface.Similar to the way spiders use webs to trap prey, the study authors say, flamingos create little water tornados to coax food straight into their mouths.First, the birds use their feet to churn sediment up. Then they jerk their heads up, turning those small whorls of sediment into vortexes. Meanwhile, the animals chatter their beaks to create even more water movement, pulling the swirling sediment into their mouths. From there, the flamingos can filter out tiny prey such as brine shrimp—but it seems like this filter feeding is a lot less passive than it looks.In other animal news, it turns out that chimps use leaves for everything from first aid to bathroom hygiene. In a study published Tuesday in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, researchers describe their observations of two different communities of chimpanzees in Uganda. The researchers identified numerous instances of “self-care” using leaves, from dabbing wounds to packing them with chewed-up plant matter. The chimps sometimes offered this care to others, too. That’s similar to behavior other researchers reported last year in orangutans over in Indonesia. Orangutans have also been seen applying juice made from saliva and the leaves of a plant with anti-inflammatory properties all over their bodies, which scientists suspect they might be doing to relieve joint and muscle pain.Plants seem to be part of a larger wellness routine for chimps, too: the scientists also saw them using leaves to clean themselves up after pooping or having sex. The researchers even described one instance of what they called “prosocial postcoital penis wiping,” which means one chimp leant another a hand with intimate personal hygiene.While these aren’t the first documented cases of first aid in nonhuman animals—or even in chimps, who have been seen putting smashed insects in their wounds, possibly for medicinal purposes—scientists are excited to see evidence that medicinal plant use might be more widespread than expected among our close relatives. That could suggest that wound care goes way, way back in our evolutionary history.That’s all for this week’s news roundup. Rachel will be back on Wednesday.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by me, Allison Parshall, and edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to Scientific American for more up-to-date and in-depth science news.For Scientific American, this is Allison Parshall. Have a great week! #where #did #kosmos482 #land #one

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Inside the story that enraged OpenAI —Niall Firth, executive editor, MIT Technology Review In 2019, Karen Hao, a senior reporter with MIT Technology Review, pitched me a story about a then little-known company, OpenAI. It was her biggest assignment to date. Hao’s feat of reporting took a series of twists and turns over the coming months, eventually revealing how OpenAI’s ambition had taken it far afield from its original mission.The finished story was a prescient look at a company at a tipping point—or already past it. And OpenAI was not happy with the result. Hao’s new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, is an in-depth exploration of the company that kick-started the AI arms race, and what that race means for all of us. This excerpt is the origin story of that reporting. This spa’s water is heated by bitcoin mining At first glance, the Bathhouse spa in Brooklyn looks not so different from other high-end spas. What sets it apart is out of sight: a closet full of cryptocurrency-­mining computers that not only generate bitcoins but also heat the spa’s pools, marble hammams, and showers.  When cofounder Jason Goodman opened Bathhouse’s first location in Williamsburg in 2019, he used conventional pool heaters. But after diving deep into the world of bitcoin, he realized he could fit cryptocurrency mining seamlessly into his business. Read the full story. —Carrie Klein This story is from the most recent edition of our print magazine, which is all about how technology is changing creativity. Subscribe now to read it and to receive future print copies once they land. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Nvidia wants to build an AI supercomputer in Taiwan As Trump’s tariffs upend existing supply chains.+ Jensen Huang has denied that Nvidia’s chips are being diverted into China.2 xAI’s Grok dabbled in Holocaust denialThe chatbot said it was “skeptical” about points that historians agree are facts.+ It blamed the comments on a programming error.3 Apple is planning to overhaul Siri entirelyTo make it an assistant fit for the AI age.4 Dentists are worried by RFK Jr’s fluoride banParticularly in rural America.+ Florida has become the second state to ban fluoride in public water.5 Fewer people want to work in America’s factoriesThat’s a problem when Trump is so hell-bent on kickstarting the manufacturing industry.+ Sweeping tariffs could threaten the US manufacturing rebound.6 Meet the crypto investors hoping to bend the President’s earThey’re treating Trump’s meme coin dinner as an opportunity to push their agendas.+ Many of them are offloading their coins, too.+ Crypto bigwigs are targets for criminals.+ Bodyguards and other forms of security are becoming de rigueur.7 How the US reversed the overdose epidemicNaloxone is a major factor.+ How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs.8 Chatbots really love the heads of the companies that made them And are not so fond of the leaders of its rivals.+ What if we could just ask AI to be less biased?9 Technology is a double-edged sword What connects us can simultaneously outrage us.10 Meet the people hooked on watching nature live streamsThey find checking in with animals puts their own troubles in perspective.Quote of the day “People are just scared. They don’t know where they fit in this new world.” —Angela Jiang, who is working on a startup exploring the impact of AI on the labor market, tells the Wall Street Journal about the woes of tech job seekers trying to land new jobs in the current economy. One more thing How the Rubin Observatory will help us understand dark matter and dark energyWe can put a good figure on how much we know about the universe: 5%. That’s how much of what’s floating about in the cosmos is ordinary matter—planets and stars and galaxies and the dust and gas between them. The other 95% is dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities aptly named for our inability to shed light on their true nature.Previous work has begun pulling apart these dueling forces, but dark matter and dark energy remain shrouded in a blanket of questions—critically, what exactly are they?Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of our 10 breakthrough technologies for 2025. Boasting the largest digital camera ever created, Rubin is expected to study the cosmos in the highest resolution yet once it begins observations later this year. And with a better window on the cosmic battle between dark matter and dark energy, Rubin might narrow down existing theories on what they are made of. Here’s a look at how. —Jenna Ahart We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day.+ Archaeologists in Canada are facing a mighty challenge—to solve how thousands of dinosaurs died in what’s now a forest in Alberta.+ Before Brian Johnson joined AC/DC, he sang on this very distinctive hooverad.+ Wealthy Londoners are adding spas to their gardens, because why not.+ I must eat the crystal breakfast! #download #chaos #openai #spa #heated

In 2020 and 2021, before I came to Vox, I worked as the future correspondent at Axios — yes, that was the actual job title — and I found myself writing almost solely about the Covid-19 pandemic, or major trends that appeared to be driven by the pandemic.One of those trends was an alarming rise in drug overdose deaths. The trajectory was already bad before Covid: Between the widespread prescription and misuse of legal opioids and then the introduction of the ultra-powerful drug fentanyl to the illicit drug supply, overdose deaths in the US began taking off in the early 2010s. But the closure of treatment facilities during the pandemic and the isolation of users led to a sudden spike in deaths: In the year leading up to September 2020, as I wrote in April 2021, more than 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, a higher total than any 12-month period of the opioid epidemic up to that point. Despair, and then hopeAfter publishing that piece, I received a letter from a reader, who said her son had been one of those 87,000 deaths. She begged me to give this issue more coverage, to remind my readers that behind the Covid pandemic, there was a shadow epidemic of drug deaths, of lost sons and daughters and husbands and wives. People had to stop closing their eyes to the toll of death and pain.RelatedThe opioid epidemic, explainedIn the years that followed, the toll only continued to grow, however, with deaths reaching 110,000 in 2023. There seemed to be no answer for one of the worst public health crises in a generation. But now, at long last, we finally appear to be turning the corner on the drug overdose crisis. Provisional figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System released this week show that some 27,000 fewer Americans died of a drug overdose in 2024 than in 2023. That year-on-year drop is the steepest single-year decline since the government first began keeping track of overdose deaths 45 years ago. It means that drug deaths are now finally coming back down to pre-pandemic levels — and that we can make progress on what can seem like the most intractable social ills.RelatedDrug overdose deaths are in a free fall — for now27,000 livesTo put that 27,000 drop in deaths into perspective, think of it this way: It adds up to three lives saved every hour for an entire year. What’s remarkable about the rapid drop in overdose deaths is just how widespread the trend is. Forty-five states recorded declines in deaths, with Ohio and West Virginia — two states that have suffered more than almost any other from the opioid epidemic — leading the way. Only a handful of states, mostly in the Northwest, where the epidemic started later, experienced increases. While synthetic opioids, which mostly means fentanyl, are still responsible for the vast majority of overdose deaths, deaths from such drugs are falling faster than any other, declining by 36 percent year over year. Reversing the overdose epidemicOne of the biggest factors behind the decline is the growing availability of naloxone, an opioid antagonist. If administered in the immediate aftermath of an overdose, naloxone has been shown to be close to 99 percent effective in preventing death. The key is speed — even the fastest emergency medical responders may not make it to the scene in time to save someone suffering an overdose. But recent policies to make naloxone available over the counter, and to advise users to have it on hand, have made it possible to bring back thousands of people who otherwise would have died.While the pandemic directly led to a significant spike in overdose deaths, policies that came out of Covid have helped curb the toll, including telehealth access to medicine-based treatment options for addiction like buprenorphine. All of these programs have been paid for in part by the billions of dollars in opioid-settlement cash from drug companies like Johnson & Johnson, which began flowing to state and local governments in 2024. Tougher enforcement on fentanyl has played a role as well. Lastly — and less positively — the sheer number of overdose deaths in the past few years has depleted the number of people at highest risk. Like an infectious disease epidemic that slows down as it begins to run out of new people to infect, the overdose epidemic burned so hot and killed so many that drug users who were left were less vulnerable to fatal overdoses.What comes nextThe news isn’t all good. While synthetic opioids like fentanyl appear to be in a steep decline, deaths actually rose last year from stimulants like meth and cocaine, with production of the latter surging to new highs. The increase in deaths in a handful of states like Alaska and Washington demonstrates that in some parts of the country, at least, there are still populations that remain highly vulnerable to fatal overdoses.Most worryingly, the Trump administration’s draft budget proposes major cuts to naloxone distribution, which could take the most potent tool for stopping overdose deaths out of the hands of those who need it most. Still, we should recognize this new data for what it is — evidence that, with effort, we can reverse the course of one of the biggest public health threats the US faces. Thousands of people are alive today who, if nothing had changed since I was writing about this epidemic in 2021, might have suffered a worse fate. Drug addiction is a horrible disease that can destroy futures, families, and lives. But where there is life, there is hope. Every overdose victim brought back by a spray of naloxone has another chance to change their future, and ensure that they won’t become another statistic. A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!You’ve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you — join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: #how #turned #tide #drug #overdose

"My Adderall Store" Spotify caught hosting hundreds of fake podcasts that advertise selling drugs Fake 10-second podcasts are easily found fronts for black markets, reports say. Ashley Belanger – May 16, 2025 4:03 pm | 28 Credit: Andy Teo aka Photocillin | Moment Credit: Andy Teo aka Photocillin | Moment Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more This week, Spotify rushed to remove hundreds of obviously fake podcasts found to be marketing prescription drugs in violation of Spotify's policies and, likely, federal law. On Thursday, Business Insiderreported that Spotify removed 200 podcasts advertising the sale of opioids and other drugs, but that wasn't the end of the scandal. Today, CNN revealed that it easily uncovered dozens more fake podcasts peddling drugs. Some of the podcasts may have raised a red flag for a human moderator—with titles like "My Adderall Store" or "Xtrapharma.com" and episodes titled "Order Codeine Online Safe Pharmacy Louisiana" or "Order Xanax 2 mg Online Big Deal On Christmas Season," CNN reported. But Spotify's auto-detection did not flag the fake podcasts for removal. Some of them remained up for months, CNN reported, which could create trouble for the music streamer at a time when the US government is cracking down on illegal drug sales online. "Multiple teens have died of overdoses from pills bought online," CNN noted, sparking backlash against tech companies. And Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs were specifically raised to stop deadly drugs from bombarding the US, which the president declared a national emergency. BI found that many podcast episodes featured a computerized voice and were under a minute long, while CNN noted some episodes were as short as 10 seconds. Some of them didn't contain any audio at all, BI reported. CNN noted that developments in artificial intelligence have simplified audio and voice generation, as well as the "proliferation of text-to-speech tools,"which have made it easier than ever to quickly create these phony podcasts linking out to scam websites or perhaps legitimate black markets. Neither CNN nor BI could verify if drugs could actually be purchased on the sites linked. Sometimes Spotify's content moderation seemed to work to catch these podcasts, CNN suggested. But Spotify may not be hugely motivated to hunt them all down, the director of the non-profit Tech Transparency Project, Katie Paul, told CNN. Most platforms lack accountability for user-generated content like these fake podcasts, she said, shielded by Section 230. Even if Spotify did pursue a platform-wide crackdown, Paul thinks Spotify may still struggle to stay ahead of the trend, since podcasts seemingly have a "bigger blind spot," as "voice makes it much more difficult for moderation." It's unclear how many Spotify users interacted with the fake podcasts, CNN reported. However, the podcasts were promoted in top results for searches for various prescription drugs that some users may have conducted on the platform in search of legitimate health-related podcasts. Spotify's spokesperson told Ars that all fake podcasts flagged by the outlets were removed—considered violative as either illegal or spam content—but remained vague on whether there was any risk they might pop back up. As the service continues to play whack-a-mole, the spokesperson said, "we are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service." Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 28 Comments #spotify #caught #hosting #hundreds #fake

Fortnite now lets you chat with Darth Vader using generative AI speech UPDATE: Epic issues swift update after players get Sith lord to swear. Image credit: Epic Games News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Updated on May 16, 2025 UPDATE 4.45pm UK: Well, that didn't take long. Kotaku report Ethan Gach has reported that Epic Games has issued a swift update after players quickly got Darth Vader to start swearing. "We pushed a hot fix within 30 minutes of this happening in-game," Epic said, "so this shouldn't happen again." ORIGINAL STORY 4.15pm UK: Fortnite now lets you chat with Darth Vader, who wields the fully operational AI-generated power of the late James Earl Jones. This isn't the first time Fortnite has featured the digital recreation of a now-deceased individual. Last year, it held a pop concert fronted by Juice Wrld, the young rapper and Fortnite fan who sadly died of an overdose in 2019. But this is the first time Fortnite has let you voice chat with a character - any character, living or dead - and have them respond to you via generative AI. Here's a look at how it works: To see this content please enable targeting cookies. And of course, people are already doing terrible things with it, such as getting Vader to say swears. Here's Epic Games' closely allied streamer LoserFruit, who has a skin in the game, encouraging Vader's potty mouth: To see this content please enable targeting cookies. This frankly bizarre addition comes amidst Fortnite's ongoing Star Wars season, and after seminal Darth Vader voice actor James Earl Jones signed over the rights of his voice to Disney to enable the iconic villain's voice to continue. In the world of TV, this has already been used to generate Vader's voice for the Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now, Fortnite has partnered with Google's Gemini AI bot and ElevenLabs' Flash audio model to provide the late actor's vocals for players in real-time. "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," reads a statement issued today from the family of James Earl Jones. "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." Players aged under 13 will receive a prompt asking for parental permission to chat with Darth Vader, an Epic Games FAQ page states. You can also report Darth Vader, if he says something you don't like. "When you talk with Darth Vader, we securely send voice audio to Gemini to generate Darth Vader's response," Epic Games wrote. "Your voice audio and transcriptions of it are not stored. If you report something Darth Vader says, we will only receive Darth Vader's responses." For now, Darth Vader only understands and responds in English, the FAQ continues. *insert Wookie noise here* The development comes after significant pushback by establishedvoice actors over the encroachment of AI in video games. Earlier this year, Eurogamer chatted with Commander Shepard voice actor Jennifer Hale to find out the latest developments in the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, with AI a key issue. Earlier today, Epic Games announced that Fortnite would be going offline on iPhone for the forseeable future after Apple had "blocked" its return via the App Store in the US. #fortnite #now #lets #you #chat