An Overwhelmingly Negative and Demoralizing Force

Summary

We’re a few years into a supposed artificial intelligence revolution, which could and should have been about reducing mundane tasks and freeing everyone up to do more interesting things with their time. Instead, thanks to the bloodthirsty nature of modern capitalism and an ideological crusade being waged by the tech industry, we’re now facing a world where many people’s livelihoods–like video game developers–are under direct threat.These tumultuous times are of course being reported on everywhere you look, including on this very website, but one area I’ve been curious about recently aren’t the broader moral and legal battles, but what the struggle looks like for the average dev who is now having to encounter AI in their workplace.For this piece, I spoke with a number of people working in the video game industry or very close to it, including artists, game designers, and software developers. I asked them to tell their stories about their daily interactions and struggles with artificial intelligence in the workplace, and what it means for the jobs they've been trained and hired to do.Each person’s name and workplace has been changed to protect their identity. [He] can’t even write a fucking email without using Chat GPT...Bradley is a veteran artist who works at a AAA video game studio. They describe the company as having been founded relatively recently, with investment coming from traditional AAA executives who “want to make money, and they are trying to figure out what game to make for that”. They say their project’s art direction has been largely fuelled by AI prompts and generated imagery, all driven by their head Art Director, who is himself an experienced video game artist, but who now “can’t even write a fucking email without using Chat GPT”. “In my interview with the company I was very clear that I do not like AI-generated content”, Bradley says, and adds that the team initially said that was fine, the tech was only being used for pitching purposes. But Bradle...