Fortnite's AI-powered Darth Vader is everything alarming and exciting about AI

He is what they made him.

In the week since Epic Games, the maker of "Fortnite," introduced its AI-powered Darth Vader to the game, it has come to symbolize all that is exciting and risky about the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.

The character relies on conversational AI and the licensed voice of the late James Earl Jones, who played Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Players can interact with Darth Vader, who responds in natural language.

It has introduced a new immersive element that players say they love. It has also gone off the rails, cursing at players, and has attracted opposition from unions working to protect human talent.

The risks

Epic Games President Adam Sussman said in a statement after Darth Vader's release that the collaboration is "a new and immersive way for players to interact with a legendary 'Star Wars' character."

However, within days, players found ways to manipulate the AI to circumvent its content settings. The character swears, for example, in one viral clip from a Twitch streamer.

The ease with which the "Fortnite" Darth Vader veered outside the parameters set by its developers is a small example of the larger fears many have about AI as the technology hurtles toward more autonomy and human-level intelligence.

The threat an autonomous AI poses to humanity has long been a concern for those at the forefront of developing the technology (and fans of science fiction). Safety and its benefit to humanity are at the core of OpenAI's mission, for example. But as pressure from investors rises to justify their enormous financial stakes, some engineers and executives have raised concerns that AI companies are prioritizing the release of new products over ensuring their safety.

Several top officials have left OpenAI in the last year, citing concerns about the company's commitment to safety. Last month, OpenAI announced it would consider relaxing its safety standards if "another frontier AI developer releases a high-risk system without comparable safeguards."

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said recently that while the benefits of AI are big, the risks are too.

"If you look at our responsible scaling policy, it's nothing but AI, autonomy, and CBRN — chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear," Amodei told The New York Times' "Hard Fork" podcast. "It is about hardcore misuse in AI autonomy that could be a threat to the lives of millions of people. That is what Anthropic is mostly worried about."

Many workers also worry that artificial intelligence is an existential threat, and the use of an AI version of Jones' voice has stoked those fears.

Disney, which now owns the "Star Wars" franchise and has a significant stake in Epic Games, began developing an AI version of Jones' voice in 2022, with the permission of Jones' estate. The company said in a statement that it "closely consulted" with Jones' family on the release of the "Fortnite" Darth Vader.

The decision, however, attracted the attention of SAG-AFTRA, a union representing actors and other entertainers. It has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board that Epic Games did not bargain or negotiate with the union before using Jones's voice.

"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," the union said in a statement. "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."

SAG-AFTRA, along with the Writers Guild of America, went on strike in 2023 for 148 days in part to force studios to negotiate terms around the use of AI in media.

The potential

Despite these risks, there's little stopping AI's advancement. And players have so far given the AI-powered Darth Vader in "Fortnite" positive reviews.

Nicholas Amyoony, a "Fortnite" YouTuber with more than 8 million subscribers, said in a video that he has "never seen this many people" in one place in the game before.

Amyoony said Epic Games seemed to give Darth Vader a lot of information about in-game players. It even knew about his buyable "skin."

"Darth Vader had that information and knew a lot about me," he said.

Though the character has had some hiccups, the bot is an early example of what's possible. Generative AI opens a whole new world of immersive experiences for gamers, one where characters talk back to players in natural language.

Some popular franchises, like "Call of Duty," are experimenting with using AI to develop their games. Other studios are working on tech that can measure a player's emotions and convey that emotion to non-player characters, who then use AI to respond.

"From generating real-time dialogue that responds to player emotions, to dynamically altering game environments or creating custom assets, our fusion of affective computing and generative AI brings gaming to life in ways never before possible," Ovomind, a GenAI company working to develop AI for video games, says in a blog post.

As for Disney and Epic Games, the AI-powered Darth Vader in "Fortnite" is just the beginning of what will likely be significant gaming advancements, all the result of artificial intelligence.

"Disney, Lucasfilm, and Epic Games are honored to bring his voice to Fortnite for millions of players to experience — showcasing how we responsibly embrace emerging technologies to expand storytelling while keeping people at the heart of the creative process," Sean Shoptaw, Disney's executive vice president of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment, said in a statement.