Artificial intelligence fascinates and worries at the same time, shaking up our perception of technology and its capabilities. John McCarthy, one of the pioneers in the field of AI, described it in the last century as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”. Used wrongly and especially incorrectly, the concept brings together above all a set of algorithms to imitate human thinking, capable of creating, correcting, learning and anticipating a situation. If the use of AI in predictive and generative algorithms is slowly starting to find a place in our daily lives, video games are not spared from the wave.
What is AI?
Today, AI is used as a catch-all term that encompasses both real intelligent propositions and simple automation mechanisms. However, artificial intelligence goes well beyond the action-reaction system. We can divide the field into several fields of action, with generative AI on one side, cognitive AI on the other, and other categories as well. All these forms are currently in vogue for everything they bring to the entertainment sector. ChatGPT, Midjourney and Dall-E are just examples of the most used and, above all, the most visible software.
But AI is also a huge submerged part, which insinuates itself into programs in the form of digital tools adapting to human activities… as another human would do. These are personalized recommendations, voice assistants, or even facial recognition software. We can no longer cite all the uses of artificial intelligence in everyday life, via tools that are as invisible as they are useful.
The situation becomes more difficult when we talk about art, the only aspect of creative genius that humans do not concede to their artificial counterparts. Video games, as a form of digital art, do not escape current issues concerning ethics, but also the relevance of the use of AI as a creative tool.
For the worst…
At the Game Developers Conference last March, Ubisoft revealed its Neo NPCs (understand non-player characters of a new genre). This technology intended to revolutionize the way players interact with those around them in-game by including intelligent NPCs, able to adapt to the chapter of the story in which they find themselves (in the case of open worlds for example) or to adapt their speech according to the player’s response (in the case of multiple choice dialogues).
To do this, the studio is formalizing a partnership with two big names in the industry, namely Nvidia and InworldAI. But he will not have waited for this event to focus on artificial intelligence. Already in March 2023, Ubisoft announced the creation of a tool called Ghostwriter which made it possible to generate the dialogues of NPCs in the background. We are not necessarily talking about those who are important for the quests and the story, but above all about those who populate the open and vast worlds, who make them more human and realistic.
These two generative AI tools are not the only proposals to have emerged in the video game sector. One game in particular stood out from the crowd, being almost entirely designed using AI. Developed by Finnish Jussi-Petteri Kemppainen, this point and click futuristic with the appearance of prototypes would be born from the synergy of two image generative AI tools: MidJourney and Stable Diffusion, capable of creating visuals from scratch from text prompts.
The result is stunning. Not only are the images beautiful, but the visual identity of the game is clearly identifiable, even though the universe created only exists based on already existing models. Although he put everything together, the developer will not have called on any artist to achieve effective graphic direction. For fear of a major digital replacement or an uncontrollable acceleration of artificial intelligence, criticism is increasing, and players are only slightly receptive to the approach.
Ubisoft is the perfect example. With each new release of a tool “revolutionary” (in the wind of what is happening at the moment), negative comments arrive in waves, between pure hatred, fear and disgust. It is clear that ordinary gamers adore generative AI for personal and creative use, but abhor it when it is used by professionals.
…and the best?
In fact, AI is already everywhere in video games. In the form of an assistance tool rather than a generator of ideas, artificial intelligence goes unnoticed and is even acclaimed for its relevance and effectiveness. It interferes in the moderation of communication sites, in chatbots or even in the user interfaces of consoles and other applications related to gaming.
Twitch, a live streaming platform owned by Amazon, is one of the most present players in the representation of video game content on the Internet. The service is mainly used to share everyone’s passions with the general public, often with respect and kindness. But Twitch is no exception to hateful and abusive behavior, so moderation is extremely important to preserve the integrity of each user.
In 2021, the platform is unveiling a brand new tool called “Suspicious User Detection” based on artificial intelligence. The tool helps fight against cyberharassment by identifying accounts that attempt to circumvent ban rules, by creating multiple accounts for example. The news did not cause as much excitement as any ChatGPT update, and yet the tool is still used on a daily basis.
Recently, it was the future PS5 Pro that got people talking about it and its relationship to artificial intelligence. According to rumors, Sony’s next console, or the one after that, should integrate a dedicated processor which would boost the console’s performance. AI upscaling technology, described as an equivalent to Nvidia’s DLSS, would allow games to be displayed in 4K and 120 fps. Likewise, the machine would soon be able to play you “in your place” using techniques for analyzing and reproducing your in-game behavior. However, all this remains optional, and will be integrated into the PlayStation ecosystem already very complete without intelligence becoming the main selling point of the console.
Criticized when it attacks artistic fields, AI manages to be trivialized, even praised in cases where it tends to be invisible. That artificial intelligence fascinates is quite logical, but the fact is that it also worries. Generally speaking, we see that all innovations cause concern before being accepted.
Artificial intelligence ready for use
When it comes to video games, what worries consumers the most remains the status of developers within the industry. The sector is going through troubled times. Since 2022, studios, publishers and manufacturers have been laying off their employees with all their might, blaming the blow on a prolific pandemic and a sudden return to normal. Last year, 10,500 positions were eliminated, while 2024 is already recording 10,000 licensees in less than 6 months. The trend is accelerating and this does not bode well for the future of professional video game activity.
The shadowy threat of terrible artificial intelligence is another sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of developers. Faster, less expensive and not subject to social rights, technology only relies on the good faith and goodwill of companies not to replace humans in the most painful and/or creative tasks, or even those which require the most financial investment.
SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) took up the subject just a few months ago. The association which historically defends personnel from the audiovisual world took advantage of the demands in Hollywood to address the use of AI in video games. Its goal has never been to ban artificial intelligence, but rather to regulate its use so that motion capture or dubbing actors for video games work in a healthy environment, without fear of having their image stolen/ voice/career.
Legislate rather than repress, this is the option that SAG-AFTRA chose and it is the one that led the association to take an unprecedented step with Réplica. The company has permission to create voice doubles of union actors and provide them to video game studios, within a framework “fair and just” for dubbing actors, who will finally be able to reap the financial benefits. In this context, companies using talent via Replica, and therefore through the protection of SAG-AFTRA, know that digital and voice clones will be based on real people, having given their consent for the use of their image, and that each use will be controlled.
The agreement was not well received by all members of the movement, but it at least had the merit of laying the foundations for regulation. SAG-AFTRA preferred to join the transition movement rather than swim against the tide of a technological phenomenon which is already taking root everywhere without us seeing it.
Can legislation secure the future of AI?
Organizations and companies are not waiting for the general public to decide on the fate of artificial intelligence to seize it in all possible ways – more or less ethical. It is therefore more than necessary to have legislation that answers all the questions that we legitimately ask about how AIs work and especially what they feed on.
Today, even the most advanced generative AI uses extremely extensive databases to assemble images, colors, shapes or ideas, and thus rebuild something new from many existing things. Who then should we credit when Midjourney produces an image for us from a prompt, which will draw from databases containing thousands of works by real artists? If this question is still thorny, that of the voice clones used by Replica will at least have the advantage of having a clear answer, thanks to the agreement reached by SAG-AFTRA.
This is a crucial step towards a more ethical adoption of this technology in industries as broad as video games. However, the question of the impact of AI on employment and human creativity remains. It is essential to continue to legislate and debate these issues to find a balance. The future of AI will depend on our ability to integrate it responsibly and equitably.
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