Comment on SAG-AFTRA Files Unfair Labor Practice Complaint Against Epic Games Due To A.I. Darth Vader

Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

• Boddhisatva@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  A little more than that, actually.

  The company says Llama Productions chose to replace human performers’ work with AI technology but did so “without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms.” As such, SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the company with the NLRB.

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  • PixelTron@lemm.ee ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    While I agree it’s better to use real voice actors in most acting & pre-recorded situations, the audio is dynamically generated on the fly in Fortnite Darth, it’s all AI responses, including referring to you by the name of your skin/character you happen to be playing as.

    I’m not sure how that could work with a pre-recorded actor, unless they program a whole AI vocal off them which while possible is a much bigger undertaking I believe?

    Had a go with it today, & it was quite fun & novel, especially how it refers to you by name & asks some specific questions on things you’re doing in game at that moment, & responds to questions you ask it in a relatively good if simple/limited way. It’s obviously a fairly a basic implementation so far, but this is likely the beginning of a lot of in game NPC character content whether we like it or not…

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    • Katana314@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      From how it sounds, especially with the actor’s permission, this seems like my preferred way of using AI-generated voices.

      I’d really want to make sure any legal language around actor AI permissions is built to avoid coaxing though - like including it as an “industry standard” clause for infinite use when recording a single audition. Ideally, the voice would always “belong to” the actor it came from, and would only be licensed on specific uses, like “This NPC within this game mode, available for 8 weeks in summer of 2025”. No idea if that’s what they did here.

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    • Nikls94@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Finally, EA Games open worlds will have something interesting for the first 3 days

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  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I mean…of all the things to hate on AI for, this isn’t one. You don’t WANT an immitation voice. You want James Earl Jones. But he’s dead. AI is the best outcome possible.

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    • DrFistington@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      No, I want it voiced by a trained actor.

      I thought Terrance Howard was great in the first iron man, I was really bummed to find out they dropped him, then I saw the second one and you know what? Don cheadle knocked it out of the park.

      I thought the daily show would be shit without Craig Kilbourn, and then bam, we get Jon Stewart. Pure gold.

      If we had just used AI to knock off the originals we never would have seen other actors shine in the role

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    • zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I disagree, I want working actors to get paid. I will always take Maurice LaMarche over an AI Orson Welles. Just get that YouTube Grocery Vader guy like they did for Force Unleashed, he’s great.

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      • desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        and I want higher quality lower budget games Irrigardless of silly actors.

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      • technomad@slrpnk.net ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Link?

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    • HK65@sopuli.xyz ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Yeah, but Epic broke the contract. Union has to sue or it’s not worth anything. Simple as.

      That said, the union could have gotten something else out of this if Epic did the lawful thing. Even the fact that Epic acknowledged they need to follow the contract would have been valuable.

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    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I do want an imitation voice, because I want new people. I don’t want to hear the voices of the dead just because companies don’t want to pony up. I’m ready for the next JEJ but that’ll never happen if the industry dies because companies have just been reusing AI voices instead of hiring anyone.

      AI should be used for tedious tasks not creative ones.

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      • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Voicing lines/acting is all tedious to me unlike programming :3

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• simple@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Also the fact that Epic did this without notifying the union or giving them a chance to bargain

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