James Earl Jones is an actor who is famous for many memorable roles in films throughout the 20 th and 21 st centuries. Jones has a recognizable face and presence, and is also well-known for his signature, distinctive voice, especially in his role as the notorious Star Wars villain, Darth Vader. Recently, Epic Games, developer of the video game Fortnite reached an agreement with the estate of Jones (sadly, he passed away in September of 2024), to include Jones’ voice in the Fortnite video game. Epic Games will use AI to recreate Jones’ voice, bringing the infamous character Darth Vader to screens once again. While video game and Star Wars enthusiasts alike rejoiced over this deal, SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents screen and voice actors, believes that Epic Games went to the dark side by cutting the union out of negotiations.
The union has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Epic Games, citing unfair labor practices. Specifically, SAG-AFTRA has stated that Epic Games has “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”.
Epic Games is a signatory to the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement, an agreement that protects union members who provide services for inclusion in video games (e.g. movement actors, voice actors, etc.). The agreement does not have comprehensive provisions for AI- replicated voices in video games. In fact, there has been an ongoing strike for over ten months by the video game performers of SAG-AFTRA, in an effort to renegotiate the Interactive Media Agreement (a huge focus of which is ensuring protections regarding the use of AI in video games). Specifically, SAG-AFTRA wants transparency, consent, and compensation for their members when the use of digital replicas and AI-generated voices could replace human performers in video games. The strike is ongoing as of the date of this blog post.
The issue in this specific case is that SAG-AFTRA was not notified of the deal between Epic Games and Jones’ estate, and did not have the opportunity to bargain with Epic over fair and appropriate terms. A statement released by the union stated the following: “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 to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles. 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.”
Presumably, if SAG-AFTRA did not file this unfair labor complaint, it could be interpreted as the union allowing AI voice generation to replace voice actors in video games. This is a precedent that the union does not want to set, especially at this critical time. We will continue to monitor new developments in this area.
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