As AI tools like ChatGPT become ever more popular, we're going to start seeing more companies use them in business to cut costs and enhance workflow. Ubisoft have been quicker than expected to jump on the bandwagon, however, announcing a new tool that will do the writer's job for them.
'Ubisoft Ghostwriter' as the French studio is dubbing it was announced yesterday in a blog post on the company's website. "Ghostwriter effectively generates first drafts of barks - phrases or sounds made by NPCs during a triggered event - which gives scriptwriters more time to polish the narrative elsewhere," the post reads.
Whether we will see Ghostwriter used beyond these simple lines the company says and whether it will be any good or not is still to be seen, but its announcement has been met with various reactions among game writers concerning AI replacing humans in the workplace.
"As a writer, having to edit AI-generated scripts/dialogue sounds far more time consuming than just writing my own temp lines," Sony Santa Monica writer Alanah Pearce said on Twitter. "I would far prefer AAA studios use whatever budget it costs to make tools like this to instead hire more writers."
Axiom Verge developer Tom Happ, however, points out that this might be good news for indie developers who otherwise couldn't afford to make their video game a reality. "If it was cheap enough, it might be good for an indie dev who just wants a ton of characters but can't afford a ton of writers," Happ says. "And no, I don't plan on ever using AI to write dialog. I can just see how it would enable the creation of games that otherwise wouldn't be feasible."
This comes not long after it was discovered that video game companies are already trying to replace human voice actors with AI generated voices.
AI is progressing at a rate faster than we can keep up, and the fear is that companies concerned with the bottom line will find it appealing to replace the bulk of their human staff with AI.
Where's John Connor when you need him?