SAG-AFTRA slaps Epic Games with unfair labor charge over AI Darth Vader voice

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing voice, motion, and screen performers, has filed an unfair labor complaint against Epic Games.

SAG-AFTRA complaint comes after Epic Games launched an artificial intelligence system programmed to sound like James Earl Jones’s Darth Vader and to reply to players’ actions and questions in the game.

The Verge reports SAG-AFTRA said it respects that its members and their estates may choose to use AI technology as they wish. “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.”

It notes that Epic Games did not inform the union before rolling out the AI feature.

SAG-AFTRA wants to bargain before any AI use.

While AI tools are increasingly replacing human labor, the union has actively embraced the technology under certain conditions. SAG-AFTRA has signed contracts and partnerships with several AI firms aimed at giving members access to these tools with contract guarantees that protect their rights.

The union strongly stressed that its issue is not with using AI to recreate Vader’s voice—whether that of the late James Earl Jones or of those hired later to match his style but with Epic Games’s decision to deploy the AI without consulting SAG-AFTRA at the bargaining table.

“Fortnite’s signatory company, Llama Productions, chose to replace the work of human performers with AI technology,” SAG-AFTRA wrote. “Unfortunately, they did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms.”

The fight over AI in video game voice and motion work is central to the ongoing voice actor strike. Talks between SAG-AFTRA and the signatory companies to the interactive media agreement broke down last year, and performers have been on strike since July.