Infinity Ward, the lead studio behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, has pushed back against claims that its in-game assistant, "Gunny," is an AI chatbot. The assertion was made by a retired Call of Duty leaker, who referred to the Gunsmith assistant as an AI.
In response, Infinity Ward stated that "Gunny is hand-crafted by our developers, not AI." The studio explained that the assistant functions by recommending weapon builds based on the attachments players have unlocked, facilitating quick loadout adjustments between matches. This clarification comes after footage of "Gunny" in action, showing its recommendation capabilities, was shared online, with the assistant also prompting players to continue unlocking attachments.
There appears to be a contentious relationship between Infinity Ward and the leaker in question. The leaker has previously prompted responses from multiple Call of Duty studios for inaccurate reports. This friction culminated in March of this year when Activision formally requested the leaker cease sharing information due to the problems caused by inaccuracies. The leaker subsequently agreed to halt such activities while still monitoring Call of Duty developments.
While "Gunny" is not an AI creation according to Infinity Ward, the Call of Duty franchise has explored artificial intelligence in its development process. Activision has previously acknowledged using AI tools to "help develop some in-game assets." Generative AI has reportedly been utilized in content such as Modern Warfare 3's Yokai's Wrath DLC and holiday-themed material for Black Ops 6. For Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Activision indicated that AI tools were also employed during development, but maintained that human creators oversee the creative direction, and none of the AI-generated content was ultimately included in the game.