David Gaider, the creative force behind the world of Dragon Age, has issued a strong condemnation of generative AI's current trajectory within the video game industry, labeling it a "virulent plague."
Gaider, who recently contributed to the roguelite deckbuilder "Malys," expressed his concerns in an interview with GamesRadar. He argues that the industry's enthusiastic adoption of AI is leading to a decline in overall quality, a reduction in entry-level positions for aspiring writers, and creates content that is difficult to revise effectively. These issues, he notes, do not even touch upon the ethical considerations of using AI.
"Honestly, what does it help with? Does it make the work more efficient? Does it improve the work?" Gaider questioned. He observed a troubling trend where AI is increasingly tasked with core creative work, leaving human contributors to merely "clean up" the output. This approach, he contended, often results in subpar material that requires significant human effort to salvage, frequently proving more time-consuming than starting from scratch.
"In all my time as a narrative designer I've never once encountered a situation where editing an inferior product took less time than simply throwing it out and redoing it would have or resulted in anything better than mediocre," Gaider stated.
Furthermore, Gaider highlighted the potential for AI to eliminate crucial training opportunities for junior developers. He questioned how the next generation of game creators will acquire necessary skills if entry-level tasks, which serve as vital learning experiences, are automated.
Beyond the practical and professional impacts, Gaider also pointed to the questionable methods by which generative AI models are trained. "I think the fact that generative AI is frequently trained on data regardless of whether creators or owners have agreed to have their data pillaged in this manner opens up any use of it to all sorts of future legal issues," he warned. The risk of accidental copyright infringement, he explained, is significant, particularly if a lazy developer or a forgotten temporary asset is incorporated.
Gaider concluded that until generative AI is properly regulated, trained on legitimate data, and not imposed by financially motivated executives, it should be viewed with extreme caution. "It's not ready for prime time. There's just a lot of executives who really, really want it to be," he said, emphasizing that its current implementation is akin to a dangerous epidemic within the industry.