By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
"I’m very aware that I could wake up tomorrow and my job could be gone,” says Jess Hyland, a video game artist with almost 15 years of experience. She describes the current state of the industry as “shaky.”
The pandemic led to a surge in players and profits, prompting a wave of investments, expansions, and acquisitions. In retrospect, many of these moves now seem short sighted. While gaming remains profitable, thousands of workers have lost their jobs, and several successful studios have closed over the past two years. More layoffs and closures are anticipated. "Everyone knows someone who's been laid off. There's lots of worry about the future," Jess notes.
Amid this uncertainty, some industry leaders are promoting the potential of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, as a solution. Companies like Nvidia have demonstrated advanced development tools, and major players like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft are investing in AI technology. Proponents argue that AI can reduce development time, allow workers to focus on creativity, and enhance user experience. With escalating budgets and rising audience expectations, AI appears to be a promising solution.
However, not everyone is convinced. Jess, a member of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain's game workers branch and its AI working group, says, "The people who are most excited about AI enabling creativity aren't creatives." She expresses concern that in the context of widespread layoffs, AI is seen by some as a cost cutting measure. Jess knows individuals who have lost work due to AI and has heard similar stories from others. Many accounts online suggest that jobs in concept art and other entry level roles have been affected.
AI tool developers generally claim their products are not intended to replace humans, and there is consensus that the technology is far from being able to do so. Nevertheless, Jess worries that AI will change jobs for the worse, with artists potentially spending more time fixing AI generated content rather than creating their own. Publicly available AI image generators, for instance, can produce impressive results from simple text prompts but often fail with details like hands and chairs. "The stuff that AI generates, you become the person whose job is fixing it," says Jess. "It's not why I got into making games."
The gaming industry, a multibillion dollar business, is also an artistic medium involving artists, musicians, writers, programmers, and actors. A common concern is that AI will diminish rather than enhance the work of these creatives.
Chris Knowles, a former senior engine developer at Jagex and now head of indie studio Sidequest Ninja, shares this view. He argues that it makes more sense to harness human creativity directly rather than relying on AI output that requires human correction. Smaller developers, in his experience, are generally unenthusiastic about using generative AI. One of his concerns is the proliferation of cloned games, especially on mobile platforms, where studios are set up "entirely to churn out clones." While AI cannot yet replicate entire games, copying assets like artwork is easy. "Anything that makes the clone studios' business model even cheaper and quicker makes the difficult task of running a financially sustainable indie studio even harder," says Chris.
The significant energy consumption of generative AI systems and ongoing legal battles over copyright concerns are major barriers to its wider adoption in gaming. Many artists, including Jess, view the scraping of text and images from the internet for AI training as "mass copyright infringement." Some studios are exploring AI systems trained on internal data, and third parties are promoting ethical tools that use authorized sources. Despite this, there is still fear that AI will be used to mass produce assets, increasing the pressure on workers to produce more.
Some industry figures are more optimistic about AI. Borislav Slavov, a composer who won a Bafta Games Award for his work on Baldur's Gate 3, is excited about AI's potential in music composition. He believes it will help composers explore new directions faster and focus more on creating deeply emotional and strong themes. However, he agrees that AI cannot replace the human soul and spirit.
Jess acknowledges the potential of AI to handle repetitive administrative tasks but remains cautious about its use in automating creativity. The AI industry is currently trying to reassure governments and regulators about its future use, as evidenced by a recent EU law. It also needs to win over gamers. The online shooter The Finals faced backlash for using synthesized voice lines, and Square Enix was criticized for using generated art in its multiplayer game Foamstars. Jess believes that the growing discussion about AI has made gamers appreciate the human element in games. "I'm still putting something of myself into it, and I think there's a growing recognition of that."
Chris adds, "If you train a generative model on nothing but cave paintings, all it'll ever give you will be cave paintings. It takes humans to get from there to the Sistine Chapel."
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