There have been many reports, talks, announcements, and job listings regarding A.I. in technology and gaming industries, but a recent report by Wired has argued that it’s already here; with testimonies from people impacted by the changes. The hosts were passionate–if torn–by the use of A.I. This also showed in the chat, where the audience typed their views and opinions as the hosts passed the potato, so to speak (ignore BlackLightOni eating a sweet potato on-stream.)
For the sake of clarity, the Wired article focused on people who had lost jobs, lost coworkers, or the numbers of companies who eliminated departments to be replaced by A.I. This seemed most prevalent for concept artists, where some companies want to have concept art generated by A.I. and overseen by a few artists. Advertisements from companies such as Wizards of the Coast have multiple listings for A.I.-related jobs, so this certainly tracks.
Chieftain would love to see it as a tool–emphasis on tool–to assist in art and design, such as in animation sequences, cycles, and general clean-up. Like many tools in a professional’s kit, this would save time and could very well be fine-tuned to each developer’s style and technique without sacrificing quality. He’s used it to expand a slide from our show (the slide advertising Soda and Mariner’s Baldur’s Gate 3 run with Wyll Ravenguard on it) and was pleased with the results. The accuracy was spot-on and could be modified further. His first foray went a little awry, so he was very glad this one went much better.
Soda has changed his opinion as time has passed. Originally, he was against it–and he is SkyNet. The idea of finding shortcuts isn’t bad unless quality and skill are thrown out the window, which seems to have happened more often than not. Now, though, Soda is liking the idea of A.I. Being able to delegate simple tasks to a program while you do more detailed, complex work would make you more efficient and, with some fine-tuning, could become a form of quality control. Like Chieftain, A.I. as a tool could be a great addition if implemented correctly.
Hiro has used A.I. in his field to experiment and his opinion was similar. It can certainly compute and generate, but it cannot discern. It is only as good as its programing, so you’d better be double-checking it. To simply allow A.I. to replace humans regarding work or artistic decisions seems like a cheap way to cut labor costs without actually getting anything done. To quote Hiro, “It might be better for AAA developers, though.”
… the bottom of the barrel, gamers. Bottom of the barrel…
Given how the companies are currently operating, it seems more like a blind attempt to cut costs and maximize dwindling profits. Instead of artists, they want A.I. babysitters. Instead of correcting their deficits, they shutter departments to replace them with technology they barely understand. Even though A.I. art cannot be copyrighted, even though so many companies have gotten in trouble for failing to mention that their “art” was A.I., even though A.I. doesn’t actually create, these companies want so desperately to reclaim their glory days without understanding what made them so respected in the first place.
I think these companies will soon be humbled–several studios have begun to unionize and SAG-AFTRA gaming actors are currently on strike. I believe this is the beginning of their end.
Other Topics Discussed on This Live…
- INSIDE OUT 2 IS NOW THE HIGHEST GROSSING ANIMATION
- LAGGINOUT.COM IS LIVE!
- You’re welcome! ~ The Mariner
- FALLOUT: LONDON LAUNCHED!
- The Mariner will be streaming it on his channel Sunday, and LOE’s on Thursdays
- HUMBLE GAMES SHUTTING DOWN! (THEY DISAGREE)
- TMNT: UNMATCHED ADVENTURES (NEW GAME)
- SODA SIX PACK: DOUBLE SHOT
- VENTURE BROS GOING TO NETFLIX.
- MTG CROSSING OVER WITH MONTY PYTHON
To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The A.I. topic begins around the 31 minute mark. The team got a little side tracked with potato-talk.
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