The use of generative AI in video games has been a controversial subject, with many people criticizing the technology. PUBG creator Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene has addressed the public pushback on AI, while also addressing questions on if his ambitious project to develop the next internet with his new game-and-technology project.
“We don’t use Large Language Models so I’m not super worried [about backlash],” Greene said to Eurogamer. “LLMs have their uses, but there were chatbots in the ’60s and ’70s that achieved a lot of similar things. So I’m not super worried there. The systems we’re building are to enable the artists to sculpt the worlds how they want. It’s like an orchestra: We can be either a violin player or we can be the conductor, where you know what everything does, and you just have some levers you can pull and it creates worlds pretty quickly. I’ve been really heartened to see the community revolt against AI stuff. It’s good to see that gamers go: ‘No–if it’s not built by artists, I don’t want to see it.’ So that’s been really great to see.”
Greene added that while his independent studio PlayerUnknown Productions is supported by Krafton, it won’t be influenced by its pivot to become an “AI-first” company. The studio is “doing technological research into areas like machine learning, Greene said, but with the aim to give its artists the tools necessary to generate virtual worlds as part of the Project Artemis three-game plan.
The first game in this project, the open-world survival experience Prologue: Go Wayback, launches on November 20 for Steam Early Access and is designed to be a showcase of terrain-level world generation. PP’s second game will be a multiplayer shooter, and the third game will build on the technologies introduced in the first two so that other people can utilize it.
Greene’s comments come at a time when one of the hottest games of the year–Arc Raiders–is enjoying big sales amidst criticism over how it uses AI. Shams Jorjani–CEO of Helldivers studio Arrowhead–has complimented Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios for how it uses AI, and the game’s publisher, Nexon, believes in using AI technologies to help make development more efficient.
Another game caught in the crossfire over the use of AI has been Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, with several people noticing that Calling Cards may have used AI-generated art. While Activision has admitted that some AI was used in the creation of Black Ops 7 but under the direction of humans, this hasn’t stopped a US Congressman from using the game as an example as to why extensive AI regulations are needed.
