A Rant About Two Things: AI and the People Who Rant About AI
First of all, a warning: this post will probably annoy three groups of people: people who hate AI, people who love AI, and people who hate long posts. One quick note, when I talk about AI, I'm referring to what people consider genAI, such as AI-generated imagery, text, or audio. In this post, I'm mostly referring to AI-generated code.
I'm seeing a lot of people on the internet take a very clear stance against AI and not accepting any use of it. This is commendable -- especially in regards to the environment impact of it, and I highly recommend people take this even more seriously and do what they can. The most important step would be to vote for politicians that push green policies. You can also look at your own carbon impact, though the vast majority of the harm is done by major corporations.
And speaking of which, that's where my frustration lies. I'm seeing a lot of people attack smaller creators (indies and hobbyists) that use AI. I've been the target of this sometimes (yes, I use AI and I'll detail how in the last part of this post) -- for instance, with the recomps I've been working on recently. What I find baffling is that I'm seeing a lot of the same people that attack smaller creators -- that create free products with a relatively small amount of AI -- fully support and purchase AAA games that are made by major corporations that invest a ridiculously amount of money into AI (sometimes to a ludicrous degree, like the creators of Genshin Impact, Mihoyo).
Epic, Capcom, Embark Studios, SNK, Square Enix, and Microsoft are some of the companies that are very open about their use of AI. I've got a pretty lengthy list of companies at the bottom of this post. That said, I'm convinced we've reached the point where AI has become so widespread you might as well assume it's being used unless otherwise specified. This is mostly because of AI coding. I've talked with many professional programmers and when I ask them whether they use AI for coding I always get one of two answers: either they use it or they know a co-worker who's using it.
I'm not asking people to change their stance on AI, but I wish there was more nuance. As I said earlier, the vast majority of damage is being done by major corporations. Mr John Doe making a free tool using Claude Code will be using a cheap, subsidized subscription while AAA developers will be using the Claude API directly and spend tens of thousands of dollars (or even more). If you complain about John Doe's AI usage then you're doing nothing but virtue signalling when turning around and spending money on Fortnite or most other AAA products.
It feels like I'm watching people get irrationally mad at one person for cutting down one tree while cheering on a mega corporation that's cutting down an entire forest.
I'll end the post with some info about how I personally use AI and a long list of examples of AAA developers openly admitting to using AI.
Q: Do you use AI?
A: Yes, I'm one of the bad guys! For my recomps and some of my smaller projects, the vast majority of code is honestly written by AI. I'm finding AI to be particularly powerful when it comes to reverse-engineering assembly code. For my bigger and long-lasting projects (like my mod manager and my Prince of Persia re-implementation), I use AI far more sporadically as I want to be intimately familiar with every line of code and because I want to actually write some code now and then.
Q: Why are you using AI if it results in sloppy, unmaintainable code that results in a billion bugs and won't even compile?
A: I would ask the exact same question if this was a year ago, however, AI has become drastically more powerful since then, especially when used in an agent harness. It still has limitations (ie, AI doesn't do a great job structuring a codebase when making one from scratch, and AI has a tendency to prefer band-aid solutions to many problems), but at the same time, when used correctly it leads to a huge speed up. It's reached the point for me where AI almost never generates code that's wrong, though I will often tweak how it's structured or change the generated comments.
Q: Why are you willingly destroying the planet by using AI?
A: Humanity does a lot of stuff that's bad on this front. I'm minimizing my carbon footprint in some ways: I'm 95% vegetarian, I switched to a electricity supplier that produces renewable energy, I voted for the party that has the environment as their number one policy and more. Even when it comes to AI, I am making sure to only spend money on cheap subscriptions that I know are heavily subsidized so I know the biggest AI corporations are still bleeding money and I use open models whenever possible. So, I like to think I'm doing an okay-ish job on that front and perhaps even destroying the planet slightly less than the average person.
Q: Are you sure AAA developers are using AI? After all, it's not as if they only care about money. They, uh, lay off developers all the time and, uh, send DMCA takedown notices for the smallest copyright infringements... they're the good guys, right!?
A: I'm convinced AI usage is extremely widespread within AAA game development. One thing that's noteworthy to mention is that developers are incentivized to hide the fact that AI is used because it leads to a backlash, so I think its used extends far beyond the companies that openly admit to using it. Oh, I think it's worthwhile to mention that many of the companies that admit to using it only admit to it after they've been caught with their pants down, so that's yet another thing that points to it being more widespread than what's immediately apparent.
Here's a not-so-short list of companies that we know for certain use AI:
Embark Studios (Arc Raiders) uses AI voices in their games: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/arc-raiders-is-my-game-of-the-year-but-its-use-of-generative-ai-really-sucks/1100-6537140/
Larian (makers of Baldur's Gate 3) uses AI for concept art, placeholder text and more: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/baldurs-gate-divinity-dev-reveals-how-it-uses-generative-ai/1100-6537001/
Ubisoft uses an AI-powered tool for writing: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ubisoft-is-using-an-ai-tool-for-writing-in-its-games/1100-6512552/
Epic (Fortnite) uses AI for artwork: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR2xbcf3Xyw
Unreal Engine 6 has AI tools built into its editor (MCP server -- let's an AI use it directly): https://www.unrealengine.com/news/the-road-to-ue-6
Unity has AI tools (MCP server) built into its editor: https://unity.com/blog/unity-ai-mcp-how-to-get-started
Not official, but multiple users have created MCP servers for Godot: https://godotengine.org/asset-library/asset/5367
According to a survey done during the summer of 2025, 51% of Japanese game companies (including Level-5 and Capcom) use AI: https://automaton-media.com/en/news/over-50-of-japanese-game-companies-use-ai-in-development-according-to-tokyo-game-show-organizer/
Capcom uses AI for what's described to be concept art: https://automaton-media.com/en/game-development/capcom-is-experimenting-with-generative-ai-to-help-generate-the-hundreds-of-thousands-of-ideas-needed-for-game-development/
Arc System Works is using AI for artwork in an upcoming game: https://old.reddit.com/r/TwoBestFriendsPlay/comments/1r97l2a/arc_system_works_a_scifi_papers_please_like_game/
Ren'Py (popular engine for Visual Novels) has been programmed with the help of AI since 2021: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vgqmfszafzm3tylsdi2thmgf/post/3mnuxkqt5ir2b
SNK released a Fatal Fury trailer that's mostly generated by AI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqe1RBmJ9S8
All Japanese developers of "online games" use AI (common tools are Google Gemini, Claude, and Github Copilot): https://ixbt.games/en/news/2026/07/16/423757-vse-iaponskie-razrabotciki-onlain-igr-ispolzuiut-generativnyi-ii-pokazalo-issledovanie.html
Koei Tecmo is releasing an "AI chat RPG": https://automaton-media.com/en/news/atelier-ryza-ai-chat-rpg-announced-developers-promise-no-ai-generated-artwork-and-fair-revenue-sharing-with-voice-actors/
Pearl Abyss (Crimson Desert) used AI for in-game paintings: https://gamerant.com/crimson-desert-ai-art-controversy-pearl-abyss-comment/
Capcom says "we are currently testing out various methods of [AI] usage across our departments, including graphics, sound, and programming": https://automaton-media.com/en/news/capcom-says-it-will-not-be-using-ai-generated-content-in-its-games-plans-to-utilize-the-technology-for-improving-efficiency-and-productivity-of-development/
Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis features "AI-Assisted assets": https://www.gamespot.com/articles/tomb-raider-legacy-of-atlantis-features-ai-assisted-assets-that-were-refined-by-humans/
Anno 117 (made by Ubisoft) has AI-generated artwork: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1p09lcs/ubisoft_says_aigenerated_art_in_anno_117_was_a/
Activision (Call of Duty) acknowledge that they use AI tools: https://nordic.ign.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-7/101030/news/activision-responds-to-complaints-of-ai-generated-assets-in-call-of-duty-black-ops-7
Battlefield 6 seems to feature AI-generated artwork: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1pt4ihv/multi_billion_dollar_company_ea_selling_ai/
Visual Studio and VS Code have GitHub Copilot built in.
Krafton (PUBG) is branding itself as an "AI first" company: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/krafton-to-undergo-complete-reorganization-as-it-positions-itself-as-an-ai-first-company
Mihoyo (Genshin Impact) is spending 15 billion USD on AI for their games: https://gameworldobserver.com/2026/05/26/the-creators-of-genshin-impact-will-spend-nearly-15-billion-on-ai
Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 used AI during development: https://x.com/nyanomancer/status/1915991305257210323
Marvel Rivals seems to feature AI-generated artwork: https://www.gfinityesports.com/article/marvel-rivals-players-spot-suspected-ai-art-in-star-lords-new-skin
Stellar Blade features AI-generated artwork: https://www.reddit.com/r/stellarblade/comments/1d26wmw/is_this_ai_generated/
Roblox has AI tools built into its editor: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/03/are-robloxs-new-ai-coding-and-art-tools-the-future-of-game-development/
Ken Levine (lead on Bioshock) talks about using LLMs to help with story writing and other aspects of game development: https://x.com/Sinnoware/status/2085891019439231421
13,000 of Take Two's employees are encouraged to use Claude Code and Gemini: https://web.archive.org/web/20260722064139/https://www.businessinsider.com/strauss-zelnick-take-two-ceo-grand-theft-auto-gta-6-2026-5
Level-5 (creators of Ni no Kuni and Professor Layton) revealed back in 2023 that they were using Stable Diffusion in their workflows: https://decasimcentral.wordpress.com/2023/12/12/level-5-gives-examples-of-ai-use-in-their-projects-including-generation-of-character-concepts-and-quests-in-decapolice/
Namco (Tekken) is using AI for "asset generation and image enhancement": https://www.bandainamcostudios.com/en/recruit/career/interview/484
85% of Japanese game developers use "generative AI" as of 2026: https://automaton-media.com/en/news/over-85-of-japanese-game-developers-use-generative-ai-in-game-development-2026-cesa-survey-shows-an-increase-from-last-years-51/
Capcom wants RE ENGINE to become an "AI-generation game engine": https://x.com/andkalysh/status/2105985100269621606
Capcom spotted using AI-generated promo art: https://www.reddit.com/r/capcom/comments/1gwsk56/capcom_caught_using_gen_ai_art_for_the_mvc/
Comments (24)
Being a vegetarian does nothing to help the climate bc of how massive the meat industry is 😭 I'm sorry this is so white-lib bs. Using ai impacts not just the climate of the environment but the WATER. using ai for something that you know how to do but are just too lazy to do is asinine.
You could say the exact same thing about AI: "Avoiding AI does not help the climate because of how massive the AI industry is." I'm perfectly aware the majority of the damage is caused by big companies and what an individual does or does not do has almost no impact, but doesn't mean I want to give up on that front.
For anyone that might want this extra info, on top of the post's links: - A reddit thread where people list AI usages in Gamescom 2026's announcements: https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialistGaming/comments/1vyvtby/comment/p63rcwy/ - ARC Raiders devs apparently replaced AI voices in the game with real ones, which is neat if true!: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/third-person-shooter/baldurs-gate-3-actor-and-prominent-gen-ai-critic-neil-newbon-gives-arc-raiders-dev-props-for-replacing-ai-voices-with-humans/
I found the actual quote regarding ARC Raiders and the CEO said: "We re-recorded some of the lines post-launch and made them with real voices," That sounds like there's still plenty AI voices.
I'd like to start by saying I'm kinda vehemently against AI, but it's absolutely awful that people hate on small creators for using it. Dislike or argue against, maaaaybe, with respect, but condemning people for exploring technologies without even trying to understand their usages is not ok. Appreciate this whole post cause people kinda say my concerns are not that bad, or there's a worthy tradeoff with stuff that *may* happen because of AI, but there's no solid proof. There's always some sidestepping the main issue and that makes it all ok, like the main corpos aren't ransacking the planet to make the fake math all work. You bring up reasoning and considerations to the aspects of being an individual creator / a software engineer / some cog in a machine, and using AI. You talk against the true problematic entities in the AI space, while not ignoring that each individual should also consider how they support (or not) the whole thing (without falling on toxic stuff like hating on individuals). Also thank you for that list of news about companies that use AI, I was aware of some but not all. I do think this is a chance to vote with your wallet, so I'll probably remove some games I was planning to buy. Also love your answer to "Why are you willingly destroying the planet by using AI?", good stuff in there 💪. I will go on noting some of my own personal takes, but please don't feel forced to read it all in any way, I'm kinda just ranting as well. Not writing these cause I feel directly attacked about the post, I know it ain't about me, just some points I think are fair too. If you stop here, thanks for this post and have a good day everyone. 😄
Other than what you've already explained pretty well, even if AI had no environmental or economical impacts at all, I have other big issues with it. My friends and colleagues are aware of the problems with AI's deployment throughout the world, but when I say that using it reinforces higher management's idea that AI is the future, and they should probably use it less, they all just basically go "But it's useful!". That ties with some of what you say in here, for what it's worth, I think your justification makes sense. However a software programmer that has to write a unit test and relies on an AI to do so feels kinda yucky. I know it's grunt work, I know it's boring sometimes, but it's an example of those menial tasks that keep you thinking around new features. You said "I think it also has the downside of slowly leading to some skill atrophy." which summarises my point exactly. Most people working in software have never truly understood how deep that learning and mental development can go, and whenever someone suggests using AI, by default, because why not, I just dislike that. It doesn't become a tool that can or can't be used, it becomes goo that just infiltrates everyone, to everyone's long-term disadvantage. And even people aware of the issues aren't careful about it, it becomes binary, always on, kinda like you said about hating it or loving it. Not a reason to hate on people, or be insist to them to drop it, but we were all so happy with stuff like "you learn from your mistakes" and "solving problems helps your brain" and now that we don't have to (kinda), we don't do it? Mostly? Or ever? Meh.
Full disclosure: I talk shit about AI every chance I get, hoping (obviously in futility) that if I join the other voices it gets amplified enough that the stigma sticks right. The reality though, AI has become inevitable in the corporate world, mainly due to the pressure from higher management that rolls downhill. Higher ups know a technology exists that speeds things up and make more. They don't care the consequences. The number can go up? Make it go up! Deadlines get tighter and expectations get higher. Like it or not you're using LLMs. You're vibecoding. Deal with the mistakes later. Just get it deployed. Just push it EOD. The funny thing is even if I find success in vibecoding (which I kinda do because I crack the whip hard on that robot) and the results are good, there are bottlenecks everywhere else in the system. I push script after script but the fact is the data return still relies on some other tool that other people made (that are obviously also vibecoded) so at the end of the day, I'm still scrolling on my phone when I'm waiting on the return.
I spent as long as I could not using AI in my daily work. I even turn off AI use every chance I get in every software I use, especially in search engines. But the day comes I got the promotion I've been wanting for, and after a few months I was entrusted with a solo project. The deadline is insanely tight and I had no room to learn without AI. I had to use it. I feel bad about it everyday. I guess in writing here I feel some kind of refuge.
AI is just another tool in the toolbox. I myself just use genAI for hobbiest asset creation when necessary. I run everything locally with a gaming GPU using ComfyUI. I also use Google AI for help in troubleshooting computer issues professionally with my B$ meter hard at work to catch it gaslighting me.
Doing everything locally is what I prefer as well. I hope I can eventually do AI coding locally as well.
Sounds more like a rant to rationalise. Such a pity. Further quoting some horrendous people says a lot about you.
How about a proper counter argument? You're essentially just saying "nuh uh" without actually addressing anything I'm saying. By the way, the quotes I've added aren't because I agree with them, the quotes are there to illustrate how widespread AI use has become. I *want* people to complain more about big companies are using AI. I find it absurd how people are so quick to complain about smaller creators using them, but AAA companies are mostly given a free pass.
This is the worst AI will ever be, they'll be inevitable. Even if somehow the west can slow down AI advancement, China will keep galloping forward without care. At the end of the day actual costumer don't care about use of AI as long as the product is good enough. Don't believe me? Check Tiktok and Instagram reel.
I've definitely noticed people complain way more when the AI use is very apparent. This is where AAA developers are generally smart by usually "hiding" the use of AI. Either by doing AI coding (you can't tell without seeing the source code) or having an artist work alongside AI (like the Epic example I linked in my post). It feels silly that many people complain about AI and say it's bad in every way when they see it, but very few of those complain when AI isn't immediately apparent even with the publisher openly bragging about using AI to a large extent. It makes a lot of the AI complaints look like virtue signalling.
I hate ai to replace art but I think ai is perfect for recomp and coding.
It has its uses in mathematical disciplines, but even in that it's yet sooooo far from perfect — its strength over non-assisted coding is in its speed, not in its infallibility. The argument in my opinion however lies in the cost of achieving that progress. It's the same way with fire, in that its invention changed the course of human history forever, but its cost — as we have learned with each iteration of technology derived from it — is great.
I am a fan of ai-upscaling ps1 era CD-ROM limited compressed FMVs into finally becoming HD/4K etc. nowadays... Tho genAi for modern game art creation, DLSS5 filters etc. just suck all the visual uniqueness & personality from game art design! It's so sad trying to force all graphics into a homogenized "perfection" maxing :'(
Yeah, I'm not a fan of DLSS5 either. It leads to a lot of inconsistencies and it pushes the visuals towards a homogenized look. On the bright side, the performance cost is so gigantic that I think we're far away from a developer making a game specifically in mind for it.
Anyone not using AI in coding and their workflows is going to be left behind
It definitely leads to a speed up but at the same time, I can understand how people prefer to code by hand. Using AI feels like being in a senior role where you're giving orders and reviewing code, which is less interesting and fun than actually writing code yourself. I think it also has the downside of slowly leading to some skill atrophy. This is one of the reasons why I try go for a more mixed approach. For some projects I'm okay with letting AI do most of the work, but for projects I care more about, then I'll do more stuff by hand.
I would like to add that, at least IF we're to trust the devs, the generative AI in Clair Obscur boils down to "Yeah, there's this feature to use AI to generate stuff in Unreal and we decided to test it, but we didn't like the results, so we stopped. We forgot that one texture in there accidentally, we actually have the proper texture and here's an update that swaps it for the real thing". And as a comment to the post itself, all I can say is that I feel you, and that I wish there were more of us out there. People that can actually think critically and independently on each aspect of each issue. And I have the same experience that I can tell from the intro that you have in your life as well, on a lot of subjects. We piss everyone. By not adhering to an extreme, the people who love the thing will have a problem with us and the people who hate the thing will have a problem with us. It's a bit lonely, really. More and more people are rejecting in bulk. One thing they disagree and they reject the whole. And that forces us to be in box A or box B. Well, I refuse to be in box A or box B. I'm gonna pick the good things in box A and the good things in box B and make my own box. Unfortunately I inevitably end up pissing everyone from box A AND B by insisting on that. And on the AI stance, yours is very reasonable and my experience is quite similar, including how good they are at reverse engineering. Or at least fast. Way faster than I could ever manage by working on a Ghidra database by myself.
The fact the Clair Obsur devs got caught with using AI rather than openly admitting to it beforehand makes me think they probably used it even more than we're aware of. It's very similar PR messaging as lot of companies write when caught with AI "We pinky swear we only used it briefly this one time and we forgot to remove the one instance of it, whoopsie!" After working in the game industry for a short while I got first-hand experience with how PR works: it's all about making the company look as good as possible and blatant lying is a perfectly valid way to get there. AI is such a weird topic to talk about on the internet. I get a lot of hate for using it, even though I'm of the mind that I'd love to see all of the major players (OpenAI, Anthrophic, and etc) go bankrupt. The industry around it is objectively bad, but some of the AI models are honestly useful. If almost everything around AI ends up collapsing and the only surviving models are open-weight models, then I'd say that's a good outcome.
You're hitting the nail on the head. AI is absolutely everywhere in coding. People should definitely standup for GenAI being used when artists are a thing but now even the idea of "creating" is getting steamrolled. AAA studios work for stockholders, not players. If you want to support that game/company, do it. But don't virtuesignal by berating people for using genAI to speed up design. Be a FAIR contributor to the conversation and yes I agree genAI is bad for creative works. GenAI for codebases are just borrowing what we all used to do, grab the first solution from stack overflow. GenAI for asm-reassembly into language-goes-here is a great use case as... That's right, the compiler generated the asm from C or C-like languages. It's undoing that work in a way which we will never get to as humans. I have said one thing and done another in this regard so, not the best example but frankly, GenAI shouldn't be for art, video or something artists/designers do. But if my artist/designer is using it... Then wtf are we complaining about?
I wish there were more people that were willing to look at the situation as a whole rather than take a binary stance of fully hating or fully loving it. It's perfectly okay to admit AI is useful while also saying it's problematic. Trying to discuss AI on most places on the internet is usually a very frustrating experience as you'll typically get someone who says everything to do with AI is bad (while still consuming stuff by major corporations and still supporting stuff that's bad for the environment) , you'll get someone says it's perfect in every way without acknowledging its downsides.