Fraughtnite

First of all, this thing about a Fortnite player tricking Dark Vader into swearing? Hilarious. I'm sorry if that makes me low brow, or a bad person or whatever, but it's hilarious. Huh? Yeah, Darth Vader's in Fortnite. What a time to be alive, eh?

Above: pop culture eating itself.

Audiences also wondered what they
themselves were doing in Rise of Skywalker.

Yes, I'm talking about Star Wars again, but look, it's just a coincidence. I do have other interests. Star Trek for example. Anyway, so Fortnite, if you recall, has had Star Wars content for sometime. Back in 2019 players were treated to an in-universe broadcast in which Ian McDiarmid, as The Emperor, announced his return from the dead in the game. Leaving those of us over the age of say, twenty-two, to wonder what he was doing in Rise of Skywalker. It was...dumb.

Occasionally the universe gives someone
who deserves it ninety-three years.  

Anyway, back to Dark Potty Mouth. James Earl Jones is, lamentably, dead, taking with him the voice of Darth Vader, Mufasa from The Lion King, and the King of Zamunda. Enter AI. Before his passing, Jones signed over his vocal likeness to Disney, feeling that he shouldn't rob the world of Darth Vader. Which, I mean, laudable. What a guy. Normally, I might suggest that an actor doing something like this is, in a sense, robbing a fellow actor of the opportunity of taking over that role, but I mean, literally no one on earth has that voice, so super. Great. Except that somehow no one Fortnite this coming. 

I argued that this was job training,
and no one listened. Thanks Mom...

Now, I am old enough that the suggestion that playing a video game professionally fills me with no small amount of anger, but please understand that it's based in jealously. My decades of video gaming amounted to time I should have spent learning a trade, while a Fortnite player called Loserfruit turned it into a career. Darth Vader showed up in her game while she was streaming, and she said something like "What freaking, fucking food is that Darth Vader?" Huh? I don't know, maybe it's a Fortnite thing?

He's the coolest. I hear he smokes too.

Doesn't matter. What does matter is that Vader, in James Earl Jones's AI-approximated voice replaced: "Freaking? Fucking? Suck vulgarity does not become you, Padme." I guess Loserfruit was playing as Padmé? Again, I'm too old to understand Fortnite. Anyway, everyone lost their minds because Darth Vader said a swear. Amazing. Less amazing is other instances of players mentioned in the article intentionally or unintentionally getting Vader to say racist or homophobic things. Which...ugh. 

"#$%!-off you @$#-eating, %#$@!"

-kids, online

Epic Games, the publisher, has evidently patched out Vader's swearing, and is asking the community to report things like this in the future, and that's good. I mean, responsible, I guess. It kind of feels like someone at Epic should have foreseen players getting the AI to say such things given that kids playing online games are kind of famous for inappropriate language? I don't know, I'm not a programer, but like literally everyone in the world, regardless of expertise, or lack thereof, I have opinions about AI.

I guess what I'm wondering is, if the I in AI is intelligence, and it's meant to replace human intelligence, isn't it by definition replacing people? I mean no disrespect to the AI's themselves. But I do mean disrespect to the people, corporations really, who use them to replace artists because it's cheaper. Look, Jones's gift will ensure that future generations can enjoy his cyborg space wizard, and that's super. But it also means that Disney can keep cranking out new Darth Vader material without having to hire a new actor or, God forbid, create new characters. And I'm just weary of where that will lead.

Pictured: Disney exploiting AI to keep making money off of--you see,
the cow is Star Wars, but also a symbol of--look, it's a metaphor, ok?