Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has been conducting a few interviews here and there recently, and one of the topics that arises during his chats with alarming regularity is AI and its impact on both gaming and the world in general.
Unlike some big-money execs in the games industry, Houser is refreshingly sceptical about how AI (and, more specifically, 'Generative' AI) is going to change things moving forward.
Speaking to Virgin Radio UK (thanks, PC Gamer), Houser – who played a pivotal role in making GTA the behemoth it is today during his time at Rockstar – likens the growth of AI to the Mad Cow disease outbreak, which gripped the UK in the 1980s and 1990s:
"I personally don't think it will, because I think that AI is gonna eventually eat itself, because as far as I understand it—which is really superficial—the models scour the internet for information, but the internet's going to get more and more full of information made by the models. So it's sort of like when we fed cows with cows and got mad cow disease."
Houser also has some rather negative things to say about the people who are pushing AI upon the world, even going as far as to say they're a few sandwiches short of a picnic:
"Humanity is being pulled in a direction by a certain group of people, who maybe aren't fully-rounded humans. Some of these people trying to define the future of humanity, creativity, or whatever it is using AI, are not the most humane or creative people. So they're sort of saying, 'We're better at being human than you are.' It's obviously not true."
Generative AI is slowly but surely becoming the primary focus of video game executives, with EA, Ubisoft, and Square Enix all being fairly sold on the concept.
We're also seeing smaller-scale industry veterans bow down at the altar of AI – often with less-than-impressive results, it has to be said.