The Red Lines with Artificial Intelligence and Gaming

It’s now widely accepted that AI will have a huge influence over the gaming sector. Indeed, you can already argue that it is being felt already. Nonetheless, if we accept that it will have a huge impact, there are many in the industry who wish to define exactly where that impact will be felt. 

To illustrate the point, consider the recent backlash against Activision. The behemoth gaming company released a teaser image for its forthcoming game in the Call of Duty series in December 2024. Critics were quick to note that the image was AI-generated. How could they tell? The image depicted a gloved hand with six fingers, the extra digit being a tell-tale sign of AI ‘slop.’ 

Activision faced a backlash

This March, Activision followed up with another teaser image, this time for Guitar Hero. Once again, it was quickly recognized as AI. So, why the backlash? Two reasons. The first is that the images in question would have usually been created by human hands. Secondly, many believe that such images are – or should be – works of art, and removing the human element negates the concept of art. 

On the other hand, there are many use cases for AI that would seem acceptable in gaming. Repetitive, laborious coding tasks, for instance, can and have been assisted by AI. Outside of developing games, we can think of several use cases. For example, imagine using an AI search engine to pair you up with compatible video games on Steam or your favorite online slots at a social casino platform. Such is the vast choice of gaming options; you can easily envisage an AI bot being helpful in providing personalized recommendations.

The point, as such, is that there are pros and cons to applying this technology to the gaming sector, and we have only touched on a couple of them above. While it would take a long time to express all the different ways AI could have an impact, it’s arguably enough to say that the majority of people would draw red lines on areas where human creativity is impacted and where jobs are replaced. 

AI’s influence on gaming will inevitably grow 

Yet, it’s worth remembering that we are only on the beginning of this journey into an AI revolution. For many of us, the subtle impact of the tech is passing us by. Consider some of these events that happened in recent weeks: Aidrian Brody, winner of the Best Actor Oscar for The Brutalist, used AI – an application called Respeecher – to perfect his Hungarian accent used in the film. In Italy in mid-March, IlFoglio became the first mainstream newspaper to release an edition completely generated by AI.  

These stories tell us that technology is slowly infiltrating media and creative arts, and there has been a little vocal backlash. Gaming is perhaps more fertile than other areas of entertainment for such an infiltration. For example, if voice actors were to be replaced in a video game, there would be less of an outcry than should it happen to movie actors. We know this because it is already happening. 

As mentioned, the tech is in its infancy. Some are keen to say that we are in the equivalent of the 1990s internet era. The gaming sector might see many benefits, including potentially cheaper games, but the creative passion that has enriched the sector is also under threat. No red lines for AI have been formalized, yet you can see there is growing consternation among many of the people who have built the gaming industry.