SAG-AFTRA and AI Voice: What Film Studios Need to Know

In May 2025, the AI debate in Hollywood took a detour through a galaxy far, far away and landed in Fortnite, which introduced a conversational AI Darth Vader voiced to sound like James Earl Jones. SAG-AFTRA responded with an unfair labor practice charge against Llama Productions, arguing that the AI voice had effectively replaced union actors without the union being told or invited to negotiate.