As if sweary Darth Vader wasn’t enough, Fortnite developer Epic will soon be letting players create their own “AI-powered NPCs”
Oh boy. Remember the AI-voiced Darth Vader NPC Epic recently added to Fortnite? The one that very quickly had to patched because it wouldn’t stop saying bad words, and has since become the subject of action from the SAG-AFTRA union? Well, it’ll be getting some AI NPC siblings later this year, with Epic planning to give creators the tools to create their own.
AI Vader, which was created in collaboration with the family of actor James Earl Jones, got its own streamer reaction montage at the State of Unreal showcase during which these upcoming AI NPC tools were announced – one that naturally didn’t feature any of the clips of it swearing or saying slurs.
“As game developers, our job is to entertain players and AI is ultimately a tool to make games more fun and immersive,” said Epic’s Fortnite ecosystem EVP Saxs Persson, “It enables infinite possibilities for two-way dialogue just like we saw with Darth Vader, and as the next step we want to take what we’ve learned and share the underlying technology with you.”
In practice, players will mess around with a new “Persona Device” to create AI NPCs, picking the type of voice and delivery they want for the character, as well as its “characteristics”. This was demoed on stage via an AI NPC taking on the role of “a mysterious cosmic entity named Mr Buttons”, tasked with persuading the player to press a big red button with “comedic finesse”. It’d have earned surreal points with me was I not a bit preoccupied with the ethics of using AI to voice NPCs.
After all, this is just the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over the ethics of using generative AI for voice acting. The aforementioned SAG-AFTRA and a host of voice actors have opposed it, arguing that it poses a potential threat to human VAs’ livelihoods, with the union having called a strike that’s still ongoing as of writing. SAG-AFTRA, meanwhile, has drawn some criticism of its own for striking deals with a companies which employ generative AI.
I’d say being sworn at by Darth Vader isn’t that immersive. Then again, I struggle to get too hung up on immersion in games that can see you be 360 no-scoped by Mace Windu, who then promptly hits the griddy and gets obliterated by the OP combat skills of Sabrina Carpenter or a sentinent banana. If you want a more nuanced, in-depth view on the genAI in games debate, it’s worth checking out Michael Cook’s Electric Nightmares essay series on the issue.
