The Last of Us co-director Bruce Straley has shared his thoughts on using generative AI to aid in game development, saying the technology cannot "grow and think for itself."
The technology "just consumes, and tries to mimic what it's consumed," he told Polygon. "That's the best it can do right now." He also described generative AI as "a snake eating its own tail."
One of the reasons why AI has been such a contentious issue in gaming is that not everyone defines it the same way. For his part, Straley said "NPCs are AI" and have been for decades already in gaming. Straley's new game, Coven of the Chickenfoot, has players taking on the role of Gertie, an elderly witch who works alongside a "creature companion" who can "observe, learn, and evelopment new behaviors based on contextual situations."
This setup has led some to wonder if the creature was made using generative AI or other types of artificial intelligence technologies. But Straley said the creature was human-crafted.
"If you feed it too many bad apples, it gets indigestion and poops in the woods. These are the things you can discover, but it's because we can create a world and craft those moments," he said.
The goal was not to create a "human" companion with "human intelligence," Straley said. He pointed out that the human brain is a "miracle" and trying to replicate that in a machine isn't something Straley is interested in pursuing.
"I don't know who wants it, I don't know who's asking for it, I don't know who's pushing for it, but I don't think it's the way as a human species we need to be evolving," he said.
For Coven of the Chickenfoot, Straley said there was no machine-learning or large language models used in the game's development. "No, we did none of that. This is hard work, and a lot of problem solving, and a lot of creative thinking," he said.
Finally, Straley said he believes generative AI systems can "maybe" create compelling content in some contexts where the systems are limited to a specific game world. But Straley said he is "not interested in the slightest" to pursue this. "I have zero interest in looking at art that is generated by a computer. I don't think prompting is art. I don't like AI!" he said.
Straley left Naughty Dog in 2017 after 18 years and started a new studio, Wildflower Interactive, in 2022.
In other AI-related news, the CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian recently responded to backlash to his comments about how the studio may use AI in early-production work for Divinity.
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The technology "just consumes, and tries to mimic what it's consumed," he told Polygon. "That's the best it can do right now." He also described generative AI as "a snake eating its own tail."
One of the reasons why AI has been such a contentious issue in gaming is that not everyone defines it the same way. For his part, Straley said "NPCs are AI" and have been for decades already in gaming. Straley's new game, Coven of the Chickenfoot, has players taking on the role of Gertie, an elderly witch who works alongside a "creature companion" who can "observe, learn, and evelopment new behaviors based on contextual situations."
This setup has led some to wonder if the creature was made using generative AI or other types of artificial intelligence technologies. But Straley said the creature was human-crafted.
"If you feed it too many bad apples, it gets indigestion and poops in the woods. These are the things you can discover, but it's because we can create a world and craft those moments," he said.
The goal was not to create a "human" companion with "human intelligence," Straley said. He pointed out that the human brain is a "miracle" and trying to replicate that in a machine isn't something Straley is interested in pursuing.
"I don't know who wants it, I don't know who's asking for it, I don't know who's pushing for it, but I don't think it's the way as a human species we need to be evolving," he said.
For Coven of the Chickenfoot, Straley said there was no machine-learning or large language models used in the game's development. "No, we did none of that. This is hard work, and a lot of problem solving, and a lot of creative thinking," he said.
Finally, Straley said he believes generative AI systems can "maybe" create compelling content in some contexts where the systems are limited to a specific game world. But Straley said he is "not interested in the slightest" to pursue this. "I have zero interest in looking at art that is generated by a computer. I don't think prompting is art. I don't like AI!" he said.
Straley left Naughty Dog in 2017 after 18 years and started a new studio, Wildflower Interactive, in 2022.
In other AI-related news, the CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian recently responded to backlash to his comments about how the studio may use AI in early-production work for Divinity.
Source