In brief
- A generative AI-powered Darth Vader spouted hate speech and expletives in Fortnite, prompting a quick fix from Epic Games.
- Epic Games told Decrypt that a content moderation oversight has been addressed.
- The voice is based on the the late James Earl Jones, who licensed his likeness to Lucasfilm.
Fortnite game developer Epic Games added a generative AI-powered Darth Vader character in the game, based on the licensed likeness of the late voice actor, James Earl Jones. But things quickly went awry as players were able to coax the AI character into saying racist and homophobic things along with profanity.
Introduced on Friday as part of the Star Wars/Fortnite crossover event, “Fortnite: Galactic Battle,” Darth Vader’s dialogue in Fortnite was created by New York-based voice AI company ElevenLabs. The AI-powered character is capable of responding to players in real time.
Within hours of the rollout, social media clips began circulating showing players baiting the AI-powered Star Wars villain into saying racial and homophobic slurs, as well as expletives. Players were able to get Darth Vader to say words or names that sounded like hate speech, insults, or other expletives.
Multiple players have shared videos on social media showing the character reacting with derogatory words. In response to one of the viral clips, Epic Games said a hotfix had been pushed out to correct Vader’s surprising new vocabulary.
“We pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn’t happen again,” the company wrote on X.
In a follow-up email to Decrypt, Epic Games acknowledged a content moderation oversight ahead of Darth Vader’s addition to Fortnite.
“While we added several specific rules and instructions as part of our guardrails to prevent Darth Vader from swearing or repeating swear words, in this instance, our filters did not catch a specific variation of an expletive,” an Epic Games spokesperson told Decrypt. “Our hotfix addresses this word specifically.”
According to the spokesperson, the AI feature includes three layers of safety filters. The first is Gemini’s configurable safety settings. The second adds system instructions to prevent the AI from generating responses that violate community rules or could harm players. And the third is a final review to catch any remaining violations, such as hateful or explicit language, references to self-harm, or mentions of dangerous or illegal activities.
The AI-generated Darth Vader was built using archived recordings of James Earl Jones’ voice. Jones, who died in 2024, had previously licensed his vocal likeness to Lucasfilm, enabling the character’s portrayal to continue in new media even after his passing.
“Darth Vader wouldn’t be nearly as sinister without the legendary performance of James Earl Jones, who voiced Vader in the ‘Star Wars’ films,” Epic Games said in a statement. “We’re honored to feature the voice of the late Mr. Jones and we thank his estate for the opportunity to make this happen for players.”
Since 2023, the firm has embraced generative AI creations via its Epic Games Store platform, even as competitors have fought to block the emerging technology.
This is not the first time AI-generated content has been a concern in Fortnite. In January 2024, Epic rushed to purge racist AI-generated images for user-created islands following an outcry from players. At the time, Epic Games said that all user-created islands are reviewed by moderators before publishing, but said that the team takes a light touch.
“We ask our moderation team to assume good intent on behalf of the creator if they’re unsure about a content violation, so we don’t over-censor,” Epic Games said.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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