Keywords tried to use AI to make a video game and failed miserably

AI has been a fearsome presence for those in the arts, including in the video game industry, as companies keep trying to use the tech for easier work. Keywords, a global service provider, did an experiment and tried making a game with AI, but couldn’t, admitting this tech can’t replicate talent.

Based on this report from Game Developer, a game called “Project Ava” was in the works and they tried to make it with generative AI. The team tried to make a game with over 400 AI tools but their results proved fruitless, showing that only experts in the field of gaming can make games.

"Whilst the project team started small, it identified over 400 tools, evaluating and utilizing those with the best potential. Despite this, we ultimately utilized bench resource from seven different game development studios as part of the project, as the tooling was unable to replace talent,” the report claimed.

Keywords will attempt to use generative AI for other experiments and they will try to find ways to make this tech work on games. For now, it’s good to know that one or two devs are better than 400 AI tools.

Companies will keep finding uses for AI, with Microsoft already adding tools of these for their developers. Based on this experiment, it seems that having actual devs who know what they’re doing is still the superior answer and no machine can replicate what they do. Hopefully, any major company that employs art in one way or the other will realize this, but that will take some time.

Despite this experiment, major companies will always try to find a way to make AI useful, usually to save some money. Recently, we saw Marvel Studios use disgusting AI for the opening credits of Secret Invasion. Luckily, that was the worst MCU series by far and the AI didn’t help with that.

Even if companies stubbornly find a way to keep AI around, developers should know that they’re irreplaceable. Publishers should realize this and stop firing employees every year.