Todd Howard, executive producer at the company Bethesda Game Studiosshared his thoughts on the use of artificial intelligence in game development, calling it a “tool”. The Bethesda executive isn't alone in voicing his opinion, as many developers and publishers have recently shared their views on the technology and its use in the gaming industry.
The use of artificial intelligence in game development has been a divisive topic to say the least. Opinions on the matter vary greatly, with some developers worried about losing their jobs and others seeing the benefits of using this technology. Open players have also shared a significant number of objections to its use in games.
Todd Howard talks about AI in game development
The head of Bethesda recently shared his thoughts on the use of artificial intelligence in game creation with Eurogamer, calling AI a tool. Howard said that creative intent is “number one,” but added that “I think we look at it as a tool, there's a way we can use it to help us get through some of the iterations that we do ourselves faster. Not in generating things, but we're always working on our toolkit for how we build our worlds or control things.” He went on to say that it's important to “protect the art” and that what makes Bethesda games special is the “human intent” that goes into it.
While neither Howard nor Bethesda have confirmed it, it sounds like AI could play a role in the production of Bethesda's future games. Currently, the studio is working on the development of the long-awaited The Elder Scrolls 6. Fallout 5 is further down the pipeline as it has reportedly been greenlit, but likely won't enter full development until The Elder Scrolls 6 is complete. With current release location estimates The Elder Scrolls 6 since not until 2027 and potentially not until 2028 or later, it stands to reason that at that point AI may be used much more frequently by the gaming industry as a whole.
However, due to the use of artificial intelligence, players experienced a significant amount of backlash. AND Call of Duty the player received a refund from Steam after finding out Black Ops 7The AI business cards appear to utilize the AI gene, while other Steam users have called for stronger AI branding on the platform. Amazon Fallout The TV series, which is executive produced by Todd Howard, also took a significant hit in 2023 when the first promo appeared to use generative artificial intelligence with weird glitches like nonsensical text and three-legged walkers.
Even between developers and publishers, there is no clear agreement on the use of AI. EA developers expressed frustration at being told to use GPT's AI in their development work, while previously God of War the developer advocated the use of AI in game development. Epic threw shade at Steam for tagging games with AI, saying it “makes no sense,” but Steam stood firm. Many of those who worked on Baldur's Gateincluding actors and a publishing executive, criticized the AI for various reasons. Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser recently noted that it can do some tasks “greatly” but not all, and shared fears of the technology collapsing as it continues to “eat” itself by feeding it information on the Internet that was originally generated by AI itself. Meanwhile, studios like Capcom are “experimenting” with AI, games like ARC Raiders have taken advantage and Hasbro has previously admitted to using AI in production Magic: The Gathering cards a Dungeons & Dragons.
For now, it's unclear whether AI is here to stay or whether its flaws outweigh its benefits in the long run. In any case, while it sounds like Bethesda is tinkering with AI tools behind the scenes, it doesn't sound like its future games will use generative AI instead of human artists.
- Date of establishment
-
June 28, 1986
- Headquarters
-
Rockville, Maryland, United States of America
- CEO
-
Todd Howard
- Subsidiaries
-
Bethesda Game Studios
