Overwatch Team Is “Not Comfortable” Using AI-Generated Content, But That Might Change
AI is everywhere. And it’s quickly made its way into the gaming world. While many know the dangers of AI usage, others are convinced that the product is worth it. Thankfully, game director Aaron Keller has admitted that the Overwatch team is “not comfortable” using AI-generated content. However, this might change in the future.
In an interview with GameSpot, Keller was open about his dislike of AI-generated content, saying, “We don’t want to put AI-generated content out in front of players. It’s just not something that we’re comfortable doing. I know it’s a moving space, right? I don’t know where players or society’s perception of this is going ot be five years or 10 years from now. So it’s not like, I don’t think that there’s ever gonna be a ‘Hey, here’s a forever policy around it,’ but that’s just where we’re at right now. We want this to feel like a handcrafted universe, and it is a handcrafted universe.”
While fans will obviously feel relief about this point, it doesn’t sound like it will last forever. During a group interview at Blizzard’s Irvine campus, according to Kotaku, the question about AI-generated content was posed to Blizzard’s president, Johanna Faries. According to Faries, AI holds many potential benefits.
Faries also said that the company wants to take a “dev-led” approach to AI, allowing its teams to use whatever tech is out there to “the extent that they’re comfortable” and in line with what the company believes is “responsible.”
“We do actually, at Blizzard, have a centralized governance team specifically focused on AI and the role it can or should play in our development cycles,” Faries said in the interview. “What’s great about that is it’s very cross-functional, so you’re going to have voices from around the horn thinking about not just what’s hot-topic now, but where do we want to be five, 10 years from now? What’s the implications of our teams? What’s the implications for our values?
“How do we make sure that we don’t stymie the opportunity for devs, artists, whomever, to want to play with new tools and play in the sandbox, if it unlocks creativity or gets rid of drudgery or what have you? We want happy devs, right?””
With AI overwhelming the gaming industry, it’s easy to make false claims and accusations against developers. For instance, back in September, Overwatch was in the headlines with fans believing a new character’s sprays were AI-generated. While the claims were denied, it’s easy for fans to fall back into the assumption that AI is being used. Hopefully, led by Keller, we can assume Overwatch won’t be using AI anytime soon.
