James Earl Jones’ Darth Vader voice lives on through AI. Voice actors see promise and peril in that

AP Technology Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Over the course of an acting career that spanned more than six decades, James Earl Jones’ voice became an indelible piece of his work as a performer. In the wake of his death, a small piece of Jones’ career has come to the fore: using artificial intelligence to replicate his performance as Darth Vader after he stepped away from the role. AI was used to recreate Jones’ villain for the 2022 show “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+. Voice actors say they fear AI could reduce or eliminate job opportunities because the technology could be used to replicate one performance into a number of other movements without their consent — a concern that led video game performers with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to go on strike in late July.