Ex-Activision Employees Express Concern Over Adoption of Generative AI Tools in Game Development

According to a recent investigation, Activision Blizzard has given the green light for the utilization of generative AI tools, including Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, in the creation of concept art and marketing materials. This information comes from an internal memo circulated by Michael Vance, Activision's former chief technology officer, who approved the use of these tools before leaving his role in January 2024 to take on a position as a fellow software engineer. A former employee revealed that the company had assured its artists that generative AI would only be used for internal concept development and not for final game assets, and that it would not replace human workers. However, after the Microsoft layoffs in January, which resulted in the loss of 1,900 jobs in the games division, including many 2D artists at Activision, the remaining concept artists were reportedly forced to use AI to aid in their work and had to undergo AI training. In contrast to Activision, Blizzard allegedly does not permit the use of publicly available AI generators and is instead developing its own in-house AI tools. The investigation also shed light on Riot's development of an in-house generative AI system, with the head of tech research, Wesley Kerr, stating that the company is exploring the use of generative AI tools to enhance the player experience in a way that aligns with its values. Kerr emphasized the importance of transparency with players regarding the company's intentions. A recent report by CVL Economics found that nearly 90% of video game companies have already utilized generative AI in their development processes, including for tasks such as generating storyboards, character designs, renders, and animations. However, many generative AI tools, including Midjourney, have raised concerns as they are trained using scraped artwork from the internet without the consent of the original artists. In a statement to Forbes last year, Midjourney's CEO, David Holtz, acknowledged that the company does not seek consent for copyrighted work due to the challenges in identifying its origin.