Veteran game director Bruce Straley isn't buying into the generative AI hype in game development.
The co-director of "The Last of Us" believes that artificial intelligence simply can't think, grow, or create in any meaningful human sense.
Why Bruce Straley Thinks Generative AI Comes Up Short
According to Eurogamer, Straley describes generative AI as fundamentally limited. According to him, the technology does not create; it merely copies. He thinks it's "a snake eating its own tail," in an endless recycling of the data that was used to train it, without any actual comprehension or novelty.
He believes AI systems consume the work of the past and try to emulate, but they cannot reason or evolve on their own.
This matters, especially because AI-related debates in gaming often suffer from imprecise definitions. Straley indicates that artificial intelligence has, in fact, been part of games for years. Non-player characters, behavior trees, and decision-making systems have long been referred to as AI, despite being carefully scripted by human hands.
Human-Formed Design in 'Coven of the Chickenfoot'
An upcoming Straley game, "Coven of the Chickenfoot," has raised eyebrows with its creature companion system, in which a companion works alongside players controlling Gertie, an elderly witch, and can observe situations, adapt to behavior, and respond contextually. Some have speculated that generative AI or machine learning powers this system.
Straley emphatically denies that. He insists that the companion is thoroughly designed by humans. That its behaviors are the product of conscious worldbuilding and rules and artistic logic, not algorithms learning from enormous datasets. Everything you do has a reason for being there because the developers made it that way.
"If you feed it too many bad apples, it gets indigestion and poops in the woods. These are the things you can discover, but it's because we can create a world and craft those moments."
No Machine Learning, No Shortcuts
Straley confirms that not even a speck of machine learning or large language models is used in "Coven of the Chickenfoot." Instead, development depends on problem-solving, iteration, creative decision-making, and hard work that defines traditional game development.
While he does concede that generative AI may create interesting results in very controlled environments, personally, he remains completely uninterested. He says frankly that he has no interest in looking at AI art, nor does he consider telling a machine what to do as an act of art, per GameSpot.
