Epic Games launches AI-powered characters in Fortnite with voices from professional actors

Fortnite is getting a bunch of AI-powered 'personas'

Get ready for more AI characters in Fortnite. Developer Epic Games is going to let Fortnite creators publish experiences featuring characters with AI-powered voices starting on July 30th, and ahead of that launch, it's created 36 characters with "consistent voices and personas" that creators can use as NPCs. The characters include Fortnite staples like Agent Jonesy, Peely (the banana), Fishstick (a walking fish), and Cuddle Team Leader (who wears a pink bear mascot head). Epic tested the waters of AI characters with last year's Darth Vader NPC that was powered by James Earl Jones' voice -- a collaboration that Jones' estate signed off on. Even though players quickly got Vader to swear, something Epic fixed quickly, the company announced shortly after debuting Vader that Fortnite creators would be able to make AI-powered characters of their own. The voices for these new personas rely on "performances captured from independent professional actors specifically for use in developer-made islands," Epic says. "The actors agreed to have their performances used to develop voice models that create the spoken responses for these LLM-powered Fortnite characters." Shiina, a Fortnite content creator, made a video featuring some of the voices: Down the line, it sounds like Epic wants to make characters featuring voices from the well-known actors that have appeared in the Fortnite universe, but it will have to secure the right approvals to do so. "Our next step is to work with the relevant guilds and character voice actors who have previously worked on Fortnite Battle Royale to explore opportunities to make their original voices available across the Fortnite ecosystem," the company says. Epic started letting creators test their own AI characters earlier this year, but it laid out a few ground rules to try and keep them from becoming problematic.

Fortnite creators won't be able to escape AI come the end of July

Epic Games, the publisher and developer of one of the world's most popular games, Fortnite, has announced that it has added "consistent voices and personas" to 36 existing Fortnite characters, such as Agent Jones and The Imagined. These voices are to be used in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), allowing creators to include these characters and their voices on their islands. As the Fortnite blog further reveals, these new voices are powered by Google's Gemini AI, with performances captured from independent professional actors specifically for use in developer-made islands. Below you can hear a sample of these performances. "The actors agreed to have their performances used to develop voice models that create the spoken responses for these LLM-powered Fortnite characters," Epic wrote in a blog post. "Our next step is to work with the relevant guilds and character voice actors who have previously worked on Fortnite Battle Royale to explore opportunities to make their original voices available across the Fortnite ecosystem." The pivot to including AI voices for Fortnite characters was announced by Epic in April this year as part of the new conversations system, which allows Fortnite creators to create AI-powered characters that can talk and react to a player's actions. For example, if a player spoke to the character and said "hello," the character would respond accordingly. Furthermore, the character is able to remember what happened in the game session and thus adapt its behavior, as well as trigger events within the game. Conversations were previously part of an Experimental feature, meaning that while creators could create islands with this feature, they wouldn't be able to publish projects. However, come July 30, the conversation system will exit Experimental and players will be able to publish their islands with their large language model-powered NPCs and characters. Fortnite has had a tricky history with AI already, the most memorable moment of which was Disney allowing Epic to bring AI Darth Vader to Fortnite lobbies. As predicted, the result was players finding ways to trick the Sith Lord into saying vulgarities and expletives. It was soon fixed with a patch, but the damage was already done -- if players can find a way to abuse AI, they absolutely will. Regardless, the replacement of voice acting with LLM is a devastating blow for actors within the industry. If Epic, one of the most powerful publishers in the world, is using AI, what's to stop others with not nearly the same resources or reputation from doing the same?

Fortnite Is Finally Letting You Talk to Your Favorite NPCs With New AI Voice Chat Feature

Fortnite AI Voice Chat will be implemented soon, allowing you to talk to your favorite NPCs in-game. This is not new, since Darth Vader was the first Fortnite NPC to have this feature. He could reply to players in real time, which didn't always go according to plan. However, that's all about to change soon. Fortnite AI Voice Chat Is Coming Soon for NPCs, But Not How Players Expected What started as an experiment in June 2025 has finally yielded results in the form of Fortnite AI Voice Chat. Unlike the current NPCs, which work on simple AI logic, LLM-powered NPCs will be able to hold a conversation. However, they will not be part of normal Battle Royale. It will exit the experimental phase on July 30, 2026, as per the latest Fortnite blog, and will be limited to Creator Islands (UEFN maps). A total of 36 characters will have AI voices. This includes individuals such as Fishstick and Agent Jones. Here's a list of things the new NPC will be able to do: * Remember what's already happened in the game session, and adapt their behaviour in real time. * Respond in context to player input and communicate through voice. * Trigger events in the game. It's rather fancy, and it will be fun to converse with a Fortnite NPC, but there is a downside to this. Given that the system is new, the Fortnite AI Voice Chat system could veer off course. Another question that's being raised is what happens to voice actors? Agent Jones (who's alive and recovering), voiced by Troy Baker, is now part of Conversations. What happens to him? Well, Epic Games has made a provision for that. This is what they had to say: "Voices are powered by performances captured from independent professional actors specifically for use in developer-made islands. Next step is to build relevant guilds and character voice actors who have previously worked on Fortnite Battle Royale and explore opportunities to make their original voices available across the Fortnite ecosystem." In short, the actors have agreed to have their performances used to develop voice models for Fortnite AI Voice Chat. These can then be used to create the spoken responses for the AI NPCs. It seems that VAs, including those for The Seven, will retain their role in the storyline, which is a good thing. That said, the Fortnite AI Voice Chat system will make conversations with NPCs possible and give creators more options for their UEFN experiences. In time, we could see this feature added to Battle Royale. Let us know what you think about the upcoming Fortnite AI Voice Chat system and whether it will make gameplay more dynamic or if you prefer normal NPCs.