Labor dispute erupts over AI-voiced Darth Vader in Fortnite

The SAG-AFTRA union has filed a complaint against Llama Productions, an official signatory under their collective bargaining agreement for Fortnite, accusing them of violating labor rights by using an AI-generated Darth Vader voice in the game without notifying or negotiating with the union. The AI was trained on the voice of James Earl Jones and used by Google's Gemini 2.0 to produce dialogue. This comes days after players discovered they could manipulate the AI with profanity, leading Epic to implement a fix. The union emphasized respecting member control while stressing the importance of protecting their rights in using AI for such high-stakes roles.