Former Dragon Age writer warns against AI in game development

Former Dragon Age writer David Gaider is currently speaking out against the use of generative AI in game development. While many argue it streamlines workflows and makes tasks easier, Gaider believes it will eventually make processes messy, leading to inconsistencies and headaches, while also spoiling the next generation of game developers and creators.

For context, Gaider served as the lead narrative designer on the first three Dragon Age games at BioWare and currently co-runs Summerfall Studios. He sat down with GamesRadar for an interview and discussed why many developers and game studios should keep their guard up when dealing with AI tools.

According to Gaider, AI is unpredictable, and its answers are not always accurate. If or when an AI tool creates problems, it could lead teams into endless troubleshooting. He further stated, “It would be frustrating as hell. It’s not ready for prime time.”

During the interview, he also mentioned that “there’s just a lot of executives who really, really want it to be.” Furthermore, Gaider pushed back on the common narrative and argument that AI will take over repetitive or entry-level work in the future. He reiterated his position and said:

“How are we going to train up the next generation of devs if we eliminate every entry-level task?” Gaider has a fair point here, and as a detractor of the technology, he’s uneasy about even using AI to churn out early concepts or placeholders. He stated that artists never consented to having “their data pillaged” to train AI models.

In addition to Gaider, Iron Lung and Dusk creator David Szymanski is somewhat neutral on the matter, stating he’s “not categorically against AI as a whole technology” but refuses to “hand-wave all the ethical concerns about plagiarism, environmental impact, and job security.”

More developers have been echoing similar sentiments. Marvel Rivals executive producer Danny Koo stated that his team skipped using AI tools entirely to ensure that the game’s assets wouldn’t be “poisoned.”

However, things have been different at Sega with the resurgence of Crazy Taxi as Crazy Taxi: World Tour, which has garnered skepticism from gamers after the game’s Steam store page revealed that generative AI was used for background assets and ideation. Later, Crazy Taxi creator Kenji Kanno, who’s back on board, cleared the air, stating that AI was only used as a starting point and that all final work would be created by human artists and designers.

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