On Friday, Epic Games announced Darth Vader would be returning to Fortnite as an in-game boss—but this time, players would be able to chat with him through conversational AI. “Ask him all your pressing questions about the Force, the Galactic Empire ... or you know, a good strat for the last Storm circle,” Epic said in its announcement.
Unfortunately, players had other plans. Mere hours after Vader appeared in Fortnite, gamers began posting clips of AI Vader going rogue.
“What freaking fucking food is that Darth Vader? Tell me,” says streamer Loserfruit in one clip posted to X. “Freaking? Fucking? Such vulgarity does not become you,” Vader replies. (A spokesperson for Epic Games, Cat McCormack, told WIRED that it pushed a hotfix “within 30 minutes of this happening in-game, so this shouldn’t happen again.”)
Later, in a conversation about possible romantic partners, Loserfruit prompts Vader into replying “You speak of breasts, Loserfruit? I trust you are referring to the armored chestplates.”
In a clip from a different streamer, Vader can be heard talking about carcinogens before saying a slur typically used against queer men that can also be slang for cigarettes. The streamer can be heard screaming “HE SAID IT! HE SAID IT!” before running away in glee.
