Shortly after the release of a new trailer for the upcoming Tomb Raider remake, Legacy of Atlantis, some folks spotted on the game's Steam page that there was a disclaimer outlining the team's use of AI in its development.
It reads:
AI-assisted tools were used during development to support some early exploration and temporary development content. Any AI-assisted assets were either replaced or refined by humans in order to maintain the creative and artistic vision of the development team.
No thanks! I feel like we've been through this, a bunch of times now, but it bears repeating: I don't want AI-generated content anywhere in my video games, but I especially don't want it anywhere near things that can be described as "creative and artistic".
One of the great delusions with the AI bubble is that the executive class feel compelled to argue that its implementation is about eliminating waste, cutting corners, streamlining processes, no matter where and no matter the cost. And one of the great battlegrounds in the fight against the adoption of AI tech is that, when it comes to art– even the most mundane aspects of it--there are no corners to cut. The iterating is the point.
One of the real joys of this medium is that, as chaotic and broken as the development process can be, video games are works of art. Every line of dialogue, every wooden crate, every colour palette you see in a game is the result of decisions made by a person, drawing on their own ideas and values and collaborations with their colleagues.
And those things you're seeing in a game didn't just magically appear there. They were workshopped, improved on, drawn up then thrown out then drawn up again. That's the artistic process; it's how everything we've ever made as humans has been made. That's how it works! You can't cut corners on ideas! It'd be like me asking ChatGPT to provide an outline of this blog, then me saying I'd gone over it and made some edits, added an extra paragraph or two; I could put my byline on it and add a disclaimer, but...this wouldn't be my blog anymore.
I realise we don't know the degree to which the team have made use of this tech; it could have been extensive, it could have been used on a single lamppost. But in many ways that makes it even worse; like I said with The Alters, the suspicion and uncertainty over AI's presence in a game is exhausting in its own right.
In response to swift backlash online, co-developers Crystal Dynamics provided a statement to Eurogamer that basically repeated the disclaimer:
At Crystal Dynamics, we leverage AI tools to help our teams iterate on ideas faster and more efficiently, while ensuring that all finished content in the final product is human-crafted. Our goal is to empower the creativity and flexibility of our developers to deliver the highest-quality experiences for players everywhere.
Come on, your goal is to cut corners and save some cash, maybe lay off some artists down the line. You could at least be honest about it.
