As we continue to soldier through this period of civilization where every company attempts to make “AI” a thing, Epic Games recently added a Darth Vader chatbot to Fortnite that utilizes an AI-generated version of James Earl Jones’ voice. While it does sound rather authentic (consent was given by Jones’ family, and the actor even signed an agreement to allow his voice for AI Darth Vader last year), I don’t think Epic anticipated that people would coax it into cursing mere minutes after launch. I’m not sure why the company didn’t think that, considering what the internet always does, but here we are. There is now a clip online of Darth Vader using profanity, and it’s all thanks to Epic Games.
Launched earlier this morning, the AI Vader chatbot became available in Fortnite as a way for players to “strategize.” I imagine he’s said all kinds of idiotic things in the meantime, but cursing was probably not what anyone anticipated. Thanks to Twitch streamer Loserfruit, we now have an official clip of Darth Vader saying the F-word. What a time to be alive.
In a post on the Fortnite website, Epic mentions how it utilized Google’s Gemini 2.0 model (which generates responses) and ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 model (which handles audio) to give “life” to Vader. A statement from Jones’ family reads, “James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”
Now, the official guidelines state that users under the age of 13 cannot engage with the Vader bot, but that likely isn’t going to stop anyone. The guidelines also suggest that if you catch Vader saying anything vulgar, you should report it to Epic. In fact, this little mix-up with the F-word has already been patched out, according to a statement given to Kotaku. “We pushed a hot fix within 30 minutes of this happening in-game, so this shouldn’t happen again,” Epic stated. There are some extra guidelines given to the AI bot, but one thing isn’t addressed: Why even do this in the first place?
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
