Initial Thoughts on AI

AI has become quite the controversial subject, especially on video game development. It is an interesting and polarizing tool, and I wanted to begin writing my thoughts about this and see how they may change over time.

I have started to use AI regularly, and I have seen it become a part of several tools I regularly use, such as Visual Studio and GitHub.

Looking over my professional work, I mostly use it for the following tasks:

• Learning about unfamiliar topics
• GitHub Copilot, coding autocompletes
• Creating scripts to help automate tasks
• Reviewing logs and documents

It still generates mistakes, but it has become dependable enough for some of my use cases. It is being adopted into even more workflows with MCP servers. Although, part of using it effectively is learning where it comes up short.

There are several valid arguments against the use of AI, and I have not fully explored all the criticisms. Here are some of the more common issues I see, but this list is not exhaustive:

• Trained on stolen data
• Impact on environment
• Threaten jobs
• Ethical concerns – privacy, surveillance, weaponization
• Data is biased
• Hallucinations, trouble with large context
• Loss of human autonomy and addiction/dependence

With regards to video games, the use of AI is scrutinized even more, as shown by AI tags on Steam and itch. Some are only concerned about its use for art and music, while others do not care for its use in any capacity (including programming).

I do not consider myself an advocate for vibe coding, but I do value AI as another tool to help code. Since the code itself is not (usually) player facing, I am not too concerned whether AI was used. However, the art and music are the first things I see when reviewing a Steam page. If the art looks AI generated and generic, it leaves a bad first impression.

In any case, I do not see AI going away anytime soon, but what it can do and how we use it will continue to change. Thinking long term, there a few possibilities for the future of AI that I believe are plausible:

• AI capabilities reach their limit, the hype dies down and it simply becomes another tool with its own use cases to help people learn, code, write, or create art and music.
• AI and robotics provide manual labor and propel humanity into a post scarcity world. People can live leisurely lives and focus on their passions. This benefits everyone.
• The ruling class uses AI and robotics to further control and exploit the working class, similar to Elysium. This benefits few.
• The AI takes over and effectively destroys humanity, similar to Terminator or Matrix. This benefits no one.

The second possibility keeps me optimistic about AI and the future. I am not an AI expert, and I do not have any answers for these issues. I am excited to learn more about this and see how this technology develops.

As a bonus, I used Copilot to create an image of the last three options based on The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. It definitely looks AI generated.