Global service provider Keywords, which recently worked on acclaimed projects like Alan Wake 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and The Legends of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, conducted an experiment last year.
The company tried to make a 2D video game relying solely on generative AI (GenAI) tools and technology. The R&D initiative was dubbed ‘Project Ava’ and saw a team, initially from Electric Square Malta, evaluate and leverage over 400 (unnamed) tools to understand how they might “augment” game development.
As detailed in the company’s latest fiscal report, however, the project ultimately proved that while some generative AI tools might simplify or accelerate certain processes, they are currently “unable to replace talent.”
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I do not think AI can recreate talent or art. AI can imitate art and copy already existing art and melt it to something new. But an Artist-AI can not take two noses of coke, one bottle of vodka and come up with a novel new concept of creative work. Sure it will come up with things never seen before, but will it resonate with people or will it just be weird, quirky or empty? It is not enough to render an image of a diamond skull, you actually have to build it like Damien Hirst. Artist of the type of Banksy, Dali and Francis Bacon will not get replaced by AI. AI will not stand in the streets spraying walls, AI will not get off board off a ship in New York holding a human-long bread and AI will certainly not be able to draw triptychs of pain and suffering based on the death of his friend. AI will copy something that looks like it, but it will not have the “Talent” or the depth to make it believable and knit a story around it and know the people to communicate to. It most certainly will be used to subvert people on social media to vote against their interests and radicalize opinions. That is it’s talent.
You’re taking like the intent didn’t totally change the world in just about every way. Even in your list of big ideas that didn’t make it you can’t help but pick something that totally changed the world. You could have been more honest about the fifties where it was electrification everyone was hyped about which brought the white goods revolution and diy era. There’s a good argument to be made that the civil rights era was only made possible by the extra time labour saving devices made in the household.
Then there’s the television which brought education and culture to the masses, people said it would be huge but they were vastly understating what would happen. Computers were the big dream of the 70s but again totally smashed almost all expectations, almost nothing we take for granted today would be possible without computers. Then the 80s we had internet hype, it was pretty shitty bbs and newsgroups but people again predicted huge things that don’t even come close to what we’re used to now. 90s was mobile tech and iot which again I don’t even need to say anything about how huge that has become. Now we’re really starting to see the realization of AI research and automation but it’s very early stuff, you’re not casually chatting to your computer to narrow down product searches or having it design custom parts for you car based on vague descriptions but you will be and you’ll take it for granted just like you do with every other huge development.
Ai might not ever create anything interesting on its own but by allowing people to turn their ideas into reality it’s going to unlock unprecedented levels of human creativity. That said I think we’ll have genuinely novel expression created with intent and structure, unless you want to bring God into it there’s no reason a machine can’t to anything we can