Epic Games has added AI-generated voices and personas to 36 existing Fortnite characters, including Agent Jones and The Imagined, for use in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). The voices, powered by Google's Gemini AI, let island creators incorporate these recognisable characters as interactive, speaking NPCs, extending the "conversations" system Epic first unveiled in April. This matters because it marks a major publisher formally embedding AI-generated voice performances into a mainstream game, raising fresh concerns about the technology's impact on voice actors' livelihoods.

The performances were recorded by independent professional actors specifically to train voice models for these LLM-powered characters, and Epic says it will now approach guilds and the original Fortnite Battle Royale voice cast about making their voices available across the wider ecosystem. The conversations feature, which lets NPCs respond to player speech and remember prior interactions, leaves its experimental phase on 30 July, after which creators will be able to publish islands using it. Fortnite has faced AI controversy before, notably when an AI-voiced Darth Vader was manipulated by players into swearing before Epic patched the issue.