Opinion - Let's Talk About AI

AI is Coming to Gaming

Two letters that have created nothing but debate, pessimism, overconfidence, bullying, fear, hope, accusations, and more - AI. AI has become the new fancy tech language that corporations have become obsessed with, that AI bros believe will be on par with the internet in changing the world, that activists say will lead to theft and no jobs for anyone, and the word you hear everywhere you go, even if you’re focusing on something else. Put simply, it is very hard, I would argue near impossible, at the moment, to have a good nuanced discussion about AI. You either have the people who have turned AI into kind of a religion, people who wag their finger if you even mention it in any way, and companies that are obviously using it in hopes of replacing workers. So today, I’m going to try really hard to have an actual discussion about AI, specifically its upcoming place in gaming. (Sighs loudly… “Here we go.”)

The Two Sides

Before we get to the meat of my thoughts, which is on AI in video games, I want to quickly try to explain why AI has become a headache for me when it’s discussed. For starters, I’ve found myself almost scared to talk about it. Part of the reason I’m writing this article is to tackle that fear and address it. The fear isn’t necessarily with the technology itself; it’s with people. On the one hand, I’ve seen people who have a weird fascination with using AI to replace people, and they claim that Hollywood and other artistic areas are now under threat. They say this with a bizarre glee that I can’t quite fully understand. I mean, I think I get it. I think some of these people like the idea of giving people more power to create their own entertainment, without the necessary artistic skills. Truthfully, I can sympathize with that, and I think these people see it as the potential for success for a normal person increases if they have AI at their disposal. However, on the other hand, there’s no doubt this is being done with what is pretty much theft over other people’s work, and they want to use it to cut out people with skills to write, draw, and program. It reminds me of Jurassic Park, where I can see what Hammond wants and kind of feel for him when he realizes that Ian Malcom was right at the end of the movie. But as they say, the road to bad things is paved with good intentions.

On the other hand, another fear I have is judgment, specifically from people online. Now, before you get too mad, I’ll admit right here that I am on the centre-left spectrum in American politics. So this isn’t me doing some “leftists are weird” thing, but I do believe there is such a thing as some in that space that get a little too preachy and can come off as bullying. Look, I do think sometimes you have to preach a little, but I’ve seen people get attacked and accusations they’re “anti art” for posting AI memes or messing around with the image creator, and while I understand why these people freak out over that being used, I do think they tend to forget that these are normal people just trying to have fun, they’re not going out of their way to steal stuff. Plus, even if you make it known you have issues with generative AI (which I do), even talking about using AI as a tool for certain areas gets eyebrows from some of these folks. It makes me feel like I can’t really talk about it without dealing with two extreme sides that I can’t have a nuanced conversation about, which, of course, I can’t because it’s the internet.

So, here I am as the guy stuck in the middle. I want to make this very clear, I don’t want AI to make my games, movies, or art; I want to use it as a tool to help me, and in areas like the medical field and science. At the same time, I don’t think wagging our fingers at “normies” using it to make memes is going to change anything. AI is going to be a thing whether we like it or not, and at a certain point, we have to be part of the arena so we can make it do what we want rather than have rich corporations use it for what they want us to do. As Theodore Roosevelt said, you have to be the man (or woman) in the arena. My fear is that people are acting similarly to the physical vs digital debate, where people thought if they screamed buy physical from the rooftops, it would stop the inevitable, and well, it hasn’t. Depressing? Yes. Hard truth? Also yes.

Gaming and AI

There’s a larger debate to be had regarding AI as a whole, but that’ll unfold over the next several years. Today, I want to focus on the encroachment of AI in gaming. Again, this is where the two sides start to come in. You have some who like the idea of a person asking an AI to create the game they want, and then you have people who want zero AI involvement in any way during development. Let’s start here, AI is already in your game. The enemy reactions, environmental patterns, and more are done through AI. The difference is that it’s not generative AI. This is the part that I do believe can legitimately be a good thing for video games. Development costs have sky rocketed and if there’s a way AI can help cut out time consuming tasks, I welcome it. You could also use AI to be able to detect your difficulty and balance what the best experience is for you. These are things that don’t steal from artists and are technologies that can help a game get better.

However, there’s no doubt that the big suits like Satya Nadella and others like the idea of using generative AI to make at least half of the game. This is where it starts to trouble me, and we need to make it clear that we’re not okay with that. Remember this phrase: AI as a tool is good; AI as a replacement is bad. It’s basically how I see the tech. There’s no doubt that some of the programming and background assets will eventually utilize generative AI, and that’s something I don’t like, but we have to be prepared for it. Some companies won’t even tell you, and some developers may secretly be using it because it saves time. It’s like microtransactions; we don’t want them, but there’s a reason they're there, and they’re not going away.

And here’s the thing… I don’t think AI is going to replace developers or even the majority of what you play, because the same class pushing it is going to eventually roll it back. Something a lot of people haven’t talked about is the growing concerns of major Hollywood companies with AI using their own characters and such. It was reported that The Walt Disney Company has been talking to the White House about this. Eventually, these companies are not going to be fans of their characters and IP being used by some random AI bro, and they will make changes to the copyright laws, or we’ll get a new set of laws addressing this. What does this mean? Pretty much, generative AI’s future will take a big hit. I do think there is room for generative AI, but only if the artists are working with their own work and using it similarly to how some use Photoshop to spruce up their image - because that’s not stolen work, that’s using it as a super editor of sorts. And in the end, that’s my prediction of where generative AI is going. Not because of little old me or you, but because the mega corporations are going to freak out about their stuff being used. It’s already starting to show up in legal areas.

My Time with AI

To conclude this article, I wanted to be transparent about my recent experiences with AI. Some of this is due to me trying to understand the technology and worries beyond the memes and online arguments. For starters, I’ll just say it, I do use Grammarly as a proofreading and editing tool. I don’t use any AI to write what I put down; everything you see here and other articles is done by me over my computer, first in Microsoft Word and then proofread through Grammarly and put here. I rarely take some of their suggestions on changing a word or sentence structure, but I’ll admit I’ve done it. I don’t feel that this is a bad use of AI in any way. If anything, it’s the best way to use the technology. And to show how much of it is still human - I STILL make mistakes. I publish a lot of articles, and then I start reading them after the fact and notice typos or a sentence I’m not too happy with.

Last week, knowing I was going to do this article, I downloaded ChatGPT to see what all the fuss is about. Now I only use the free tier because I’m not paying anything. After a week with it, I feel it’s pretty much just like a Google or Alexa on steroids, which I do think has its upsides, but it’s also not the world ender or world changer its supporters and detractors claim it to be. Sure, the image creator is where you start to get into moral debates, but let’s cut the image and video creators out, and I’m left with a smart home or Google Assistant-like feature. If anything, I was left disappointed. For something that requires so much, potentially harming the environment, I’m just getting back a slightly better Alexa with the ability to write content or create images for those who are lazy. Again, I do think it has some use, if you use it as a Google Assistant on steroids, but I didn’t come away shocked in any way.

In Conclusion, I believe that the primary concern with AI is the numerous real and legitimate concerns, particularly for more artistic communities. That being said, I think both sides have overrated the technology. Not to say the tech won’t improve, but it’s a technology that still provides incorrect answers and has been known to draw people with six or seven fingers. I do see the potential for it from a tools standpoint, but I also feel there’s an unreachable amount of people who are displaying similar technophobia to the 1980s when people became convinced computers were taking your jobs (ironically, pretty much everyone uses one in their job as a tool; it didn’t replace you). I get the fears, and I do think you need to keep your head on a swivel. However, I don’t see this as a technology that will be used to make your movies or video games. Again, this will be an ONGOING discussion for the next several years.

So, please don’t be too harsh, I know this is a topic that many get heated one way or another about, just wanted to do my best to have a nuanced discussion around it. Until then, support the artists you know and make stuff. Nothing will ever beat the heart and imagination that we humans have.

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