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[Draugoth]

Sony recently held a conference to talk about the future of the games industry. As part of the event, Neil Druckmann, the president of Naughty Dog, spoke a little about the use of artificial intelligence.

In his statements, Neil said that AI would "revolutionize how content is created". Although there are currently some ethical problems that need to be resolved, the developer claims that the technology will allow for a reduction in costs and difficulties, and could "push the boundaries of narrative in games".

David Gaider, the creator of the Dragon Age franchise, criticized Druckamman's statements, saying that development is a collaborative effort and it's not just the director's job that matters, with the writers not being something to be dismissed.

If you read the interview, it's pretty telling that his idea of storytelling is all about direction. The only thing preventing AI from improving on Naughty Dog's own writers, apparently, is the ability to provide it nuanced direction. "Some ethical issues" aside, evidently. This ignores the idea that collaboration is a thing. That all those people who work under a director didn't get into games just to be paid less and worked -- they are all storytellers at heart, and they love games. They're not an impediment to be cast aside for an AI Yes Man. I should add that I think Druckmann deserves his props. Good game direction and vision IS important, but believing it's the ONLY thing that's important is the road to becoming an auteur... and I guess I'd hope he'd know better than to look at AI as some kind of magic wand.

David wasn't the only one to criticize Neil for his allegations. Josh Sawyer, design director at Obsidian and creator of Pentiment, also showed his dissatisfaction by simply posting a meme of coach José Mourinho in response.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

You've linked the same quote tweet twice.

Here's the one from Josh Sawyer

 

[feynoob]

Gonna be a good show

 

[Roberts]

Gaider and Sawyer are legends, Druckmann not so much so I guess they can say whatever they like.

 

[Griffon]

Either use AI or get left in the dust.

Adapt or die.

 

[GHG]

They aren't wrong.

What Druckmann needs to consider is what our current "AI" consists of and how it generates it's content.

Saying what he said is the quickest way to say "I'm bankrupt" from a creative standpoint.

 

[Oppoi]

When we humans accept that AI create better art we simply give in to our inevitable demise.

 

[Punished Miku]

The Dragon Age guy's comments fall completely flat for me. I don't know if it really matters if every staff member is a storyteller at heart and doesn't want to make less. That's more of a union issue. Small teams, indies, AA are going to potentially get a lot of interesting results here with less staff.

Sawyer's response is hilarious. Guy's a legend.

 

[FoxMcChief]

 

[Mr Hyde]

When it comes to writing a story, whether it'd be in a movie or novel or a video game, it should always be written by a human, from a human perspective.

 

[Fbh]

I don't know exactly what Neil said. But as an interactive medium I can see how AI could potentially push gaming narratives into interesting new directions.
Maybe not in it's current form, but assuming it keeps evolving I could see games where you can freely talk to NPC's without having to rely on predefined dialogue options, or have characters who can have more dynamic reactions to what the player does. It could realize the age old gaming promise of "your actions matter" without the smoke and mirrors that ultimately still lead you to the same 2-3 outcomes with slight variations.

 

[mayham2199]

Eh doesn't really matter at the end of the day. AI is going to take over gaming more and more it's just the reality we live in. It's like trying to stop the automobile because you want to protect the horse and carriage industry. I know lots of people are going to be hurt by it and we will have to come up with solutions like we have every other time technology has disrupted industries.

 

[Tomeru]

Do tgey disagree or just shudder the thought?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I dont care what ND said or the reaction to his statements...release a damn game already!! and let's see what's up.

 

[ssringo]

AI is replacing everyone sooner or later so go ahead and say what's needed to secure your position as long as possible.

 

[Puscifer]

I don't know exactly what Neil said. But as an interactive medium I can see how AI could potentially push gaming narratives into interesting new directions.
Maybe not in it's current form, but assuming it keeps evolving I could see games where you can freely talk to NPC's without having to rely on predefined dialogue options, or have characters who can have more dynamic reactions to what the player does. It could realize the age old gaming promise of "your actions matter" without the smoke and mirrors that ultimately still lead you to the same 2-3 outcomes with slight variations.

This is what I took from it was well. Nvidia generate approach was pretty wild to see it play out but it'll be years before it's playable without a cloud backup.

 

[Punished Miku]

Takes on a whole new meaning when they're yelling at AI in the cloud. The old man was right all along and no one believed him.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I side with Druckman because

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I can write a paragraph and tell AI to write 4 follow up paragraphs in the style of my first paragraph.

I can then rewrite the 4 paragraphs and then have AI write the following 4 chapters based on my first 5 paragraphs. I can then rewrite those 4 chapters.

Not using AI is like not using autocorrect, which was also like saying you don't want to use proofreading. It's dumb and inefficient.

I've used AI to help write employee reviews. I give AI the parameters or a template of what I'm looking for in employee reviews i.e. metrics, growth, achievements, areas of improvement.

It can extrapolate based on what I give it and then I can re-edit based on what I feel is or isn't accurate.

Ignoring how AI can help us speed up our jobs, especially as our jobs take longer is pretty moronic. We can better utilize that time elsewhere.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I can write a paragraph and tell AI to write 4 follow up paragraphs in the style of my first paragraph.

I can then rewrite the 4 paragraphs and then have AI write the following 4 chapters based on my first 5 paragraphs. I can then rewrite those 4 chapters.

Not using AI is like not using autocorrect, which was also like saying you don't want to use proofreading. It's dumb and inefficient.

I've used AI to help write employee reviews. I give AI the parameters or a template of what I'm looking for in employee reviews i.e. metrics, growth, achievements, areas of improvement.

It can extrapolate based on what I give it and then I can re-edit based on what I feel is or isn't accurate.

Ignoring how AI can help us speed up our jobs, especially as our jobs take longer is pretty moronic. We can better utilize that time elsewhere.

This comment rewritten with AI:

Utilizing AI technology offers a multitude of advantages that enhance efficiency and productivity across various tasks. Refusing to leverage AI capabilities is akin to dismissing the benefits of autocorrect or proofreading. It's a stance that neglects the opportunity to streamline processes and optimize resource allocation.

Personally, I've experienced the transformative impact of AI in tasks like crafting employee reviews. By providing AI with predefined parameters or templates, I can swiftly generate insightful evaluations encompassing metrics, growth trajectories, achievements, and areas for improvement. AI's ability to extrapolate from provided data enables rapid production of comprehensive assessments, which I can then refine based on my discretion.

Dismissing the potential of AI to expedite job completion, particularly in the face of escalating workloads, is short-sighted. Embracing AI empowers us to reallocate saved time towards more strategic endeavors, thereby maximizing overall productivity and effectiveness.

 

[near]

Here's what Druckmann said for clarification:

"With AI, your creativity sets the limits. Understanding art history, composition, and storytelling is essential for effective direction. Tools evolve quickly—Some tools once essential, now are obsolete," he said. "At Naughty Dog, we transitioned from hand-animating Jak and Daxter to using motion capture in Uncharted, significantly enhancing our storytelling. AI will allow us to create nuanced dialogues and characters, expanding creative possibilities. However, it's crucial to precisely direct these tools to achieve the intended outcomes."

Discussing how other emerging technologies might bridge the divide between video games and other media, facilitating more 'transmedia' storytelling, Druckmann expects we'll soon be able to lift assets directly from video games for use in other mediums.

"The translation of game assets to other media will become easier as they become more realistic. You may be able to lift an environment from a game to put into other media directly or allow actors to see and interact with the environments through headsets," he said.

"Technological advancements also support global collaboration and real-time feedback. Remote work tools, crucial during the pandemic, have reduced travel and streamlined production processes. For example, I've been able to oversee the production of The Last of Us Season Two from LA via phone or computer, while it shoots in Canada."

Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann says AI will 'revolutionize' development

Druckmann claims the tech could 'push the boundaries of storytelling in games.'

www.gamedeveloper.com

Most of what he said is rather interesting and quite exciting. The part that is most concerning and troublesome is how it could be used to create redundancies in narrative design work. I'd rather have Josh Sawyer as lead narrative designer than some binary compute power that understands little about human emotion.

 

[FUBARx89]

What's Gaiders excuse for DA2. Cause that was a pile of shit lol.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Neil is PlayStation and Josh is Xbox so I unfortunatley have to side with Neil here

 

[Hudo]

What's Gaiders excuse for DA2. Cause that was a pile of shit lol.

I agree but to be fair, he has a pretty good excuse for DA2: EA wanted BioWare to produce a follow-up to DA1 in less than a year.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Sounds like a bunch of no talent hacks getting upset of a forward thinking visionary that didn’t make any controversial statements

 

[Gudji]

Neil be like:

 

[ByWatterson]

Maybe devs working for the people who killed Tango for no fucking reason should keep their mouths shut on the best environment for game development.

 

[midnightAI]

They aren't wrong.

What Druckmann needs to consider is what our current "AI" consists of and how it generates it's content.

Saying what he said is the quickest way to say "I'm bankrupt" from a creative standpoint.

Why don't we wait and see? I reckon he's up to something with his new IP.

 

[MrRenegade]

Either use AI or get left in the dust.

Adapt or die.

Use AI for what? Writing drafts for your story?

 

[Vlodril]

Ai is here to stay. There is no putting the djinni in the bottle. The changes that are coming i feel will be something rarely seen.

 

[Woggleman]

Ai would work well with NPCs in open world games. They really could have their own lives and routines.

 

[Operations66]

Pop music today is basically created by AI, maybe tweaked a bit by hu-mans. And it sucks. Good art requires true creativity and inspiration from real living beings. AI world is going to suck. I’m glad I got to live my prime youth years in highly creative times, 80s-90s.

 

[Loomy]

The internet really has made us all so fucking dumb. Including these people who should know better.
Also, we're all on board with Kotaku's brand of bullshit now because it's shitting on someone we hate for no good reason?

Neil Druckmann announced a few years ago that he has put together a writer's room for whatever ND is working on right now, and he hired a person to head up narrative for his last game, so obviously he values human writers, and writing other than his own.

This interview is a short 6 questions. He mentions AI in 2 of them. One specifically talking about "how storytelling and technology will evolve over the next 10 years". Anyone who thinks AI will not be playing a prominent role in that in the next 5, let alone 10 years is frankly an idiot.

it’s a huge fucking bummer to see him even entertaining that AI could be used to write dialogue, even as he passively mentions “ethical issues” with zero follow up
- Kotaku

Again, 6 question PR interview about the hypothetical future of gaming, storytelling, and tech. Hardly the place to discuss the ethical issues with literally anything. The fact that he even brought it up here is enough.

I completely understand where this is coming from. Writers at Kotaku are naturally defensive about a tool designed to replace them. But to use their soapbox to twist some benign buzzword filled interview into some terrible for the future of the industry proclamation is, to use Kotaku's own words, "clown shit. Irresponsible, even."

Here's the interview. Read it for yourself and see that Kotaku, and these two guys need to calm the fuck down

 

[Zathalus]

Sounds like a bunch of no talent hacks getting upset of a forward thinking visionary that didn’t make any controversial statements

David Gaider is a bit overrated but Josh Sawyer is one of the best designers/director in the video game industry.

 

[Robochobo]

Sounds like a bunch of no talent hacks getting upset of a forward thinking visionary that didn’t make any controversial statements

Those two "No talent hacks" are responsible for some of the best RPG entries in the entire gaming industry with a legacy reaching back over 2 decades. Would love to see what Neil could do in a game like Icewind Dale, Baldurs Gate, or New Vegas in terms of writing or designing considering he's never done anything nearly as complex or expansive. Keep sucking Neil off though.

 

[Fake]

Even others devs hate Cuckman. And who can blame them? The guy is literally an asshole..

 

[Shut0wen]

Only developer that is using ai for games that actually works well is EA, using ai to write is just retarded

 

[SEGAvangelist]

 

[Dick Jones]

Considering the hate TLOU2 got for its story, I thought people would dig a computer over Neil Druckmann.

I'm on team #noAI

For writing...fuck right off. Do what John Carpenter did for Halloween II because he didnt want to write it... buy beer and get fucked drunk until you have a draft

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Josh Sawyer? More like Josh Soyer... Nah I'm just joking. He's a talented dude.

 

[ManaByte]

WTF we love AI now

 

[Loomy]

The "No AI" people would flip their shit if they saw how procedural generation was evolving in game engines.

 

[Varteras]

I think a lot of people better get used to the idea, and real fucking quick, of AI doing a ton of the heavy lifting for game development. Too many pros and not enough cons for the development process.

 

[Madflavor]

As long as we still get great games, I could give a fuck how they’re made. AI is going replace everything and everyone in the future anyway. That box has already been opened, there’s no closing it.

 

[gothmog]

Lol. I'm sure Microsoft and EA are going to respect their thoughts on not using AI.

 

[tmlDan]

I don't mean to be a doomer, but these guys have to embrace AI or they'll get left in the dust and shut down.

It'll help significantly reduce dev time, you can still be super creative and artistic with AI tools.

 

[Bartski]

 

[Quixz]

As someone not too hot on AI, I still acknowledge that it can be useful and should be used like any other tool.

 

[near]

He's follow up tweet was a little more reassuring, I genuinely thought he had an issue with him for a second.

 

[Toons]

Either use AI or get left in the dust.

Adapt or die.

Nah this is criticism of druckmann I can get behind.

AI sucks and without regulation its gonna eat off of itself and churn out endless swaths of garbage