The BBC spoke to PlayStation co-CEO Hermen Hulst in an exclusive interview about the future of artificial intelligence in the video games industry. When asked how much impact AI will have on the industry, Hulst said there must be a balance between human-made games and AI-generated products.
“I suspect there will be a dual need in gaming: innovative AI-driven experiences and hand-crafted, thoughtful content,” the executive said. “Striking the right balance between leveraging AI while retaining the human touch is critical. important.”
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The BBC article provides some important background information before quoting these content, noting Sony's role in the recent brain drain in the video games industry caused by the closure of London studios, as well as the strike against the integration of artificial intelligence into the video game industry. As revenue surged during the coronavirus lockdown and entire industries suffered (due to unrealistic post-pandemic growth targets, over-hiring, etc.), some companies looked to AI as a way to turn things around.
However, this is a controversial position. As mentioned before, the technology has a bad reputation among game developers due to its potential to put humans out of work and its “soulless” quality. What's worse is that today's artificial intelligence games are often garbage, so there are still a large number of gamers who are firmly opposed to its integration.
So far, what we've seen is AAA video game developers and publishers experimenting with artificial intelligence on a limited scale, whether it's a handful of artwork in Foamstars or Nvidia's moral nightmare AI NPCs. Hulst believes that companies will strive to maintain human-led development while continuing to explore artificial intelligence video game development, which seems to reflect the current position of many industry executives, who are not fully committed to artificial intelligence, but do not want to exclude their companies from exploring Ways to use it in game development.
So, as far as video games are concerned, artificial intelligence is probably not going anywhere. However, how much of a video game company's portfolio consists of AI projects depends on consumer interest. So if you're not interested, don't buy it! Like any other option below a company's C-suite, it's a proven method of effecting change.
