THE Hollywood actors’ union has filed an unfair labour practice charge against Llama Productions, alleging that the company replaced actors’ work by using artificial intelligence to generate Darth Vader’s voice in the Fortnite video game without notice.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) said on Monday that Llama Productions, a subsidiary of gaming giant Epic Games, had “failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union” over the last six months. 

The company made unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of employment “without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain” by using AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work, Sag-Aftra said.

Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The union called a strike against major game companies in July after more than a year of negotiations on Sag-Aftra’s interactive media agreement broke down over concerns about the use of unregulated artificial intelligence.

In a statement, the union said it supported the rights of members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas.

“However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader’s iconic rhythm and tone in video games,” Sag-Aftra said.