Daniel Vávra: "Do you know who uses AI the most? Usually the most talented individuals"
The creator of the iconic series Mafia and Kingdom Come, Daniel Vávra, decided to stir up the discussion around AI in game development. On his social media account, he criticized those who boycott games created with the help of AI.
Below is his post with some minor omissions.
"Just so you know: I don't work for any company. I'm not working on any game. So there's nothing for you to boycott, guys. I'm retired now, sipping whiskey and having a great time, so I really don't **** (care).
This whole AI situation is very amusing. There's a very vocal group of people who hate it, and absolutely all developers are scared that they'll be next, so they all rush to swear they're not using any AI.
And the reality? Of course, everyone uses AI! Everyone! Literally every developer from several companies I've talked to in the past year uses AI. Programmers can no longer do anything without it. Most developers are building their own AI tools for almost everything.
It helps generate quality character models, assists animators, is used by concept artists, 3D artists, writers, and designers… Research, text, idea development, concepts… Even people who can't program use it to create tools that programmers never have time for. And it's used for AI! You know — for AI NPCs.
Funny fact: do you know who's using it the most? Usually, the most talented people I know. They are the least afraid and see its huge potential the best. The very idea that someone is working on a $100 million project and would want to abandon technology that will help develop it much faster and cheaper is simply insane.
I myself spent seven years working day and night on one game. If anything could have helped me do it in one year, I would have jumped at it without thinking. No one wants to spend a decade on one game. Of course, in that time I would have rather made seven games instead of one.
I'm even curious to see what will happen when the whole truth about this comes out — and who will be the first to spill the beans. I suppose then all games and all companies will be boycotted! It's going to be a lot of fun!"