What you need to know
- Generative AI is seemingly becoming a nightmare for professionals and has the gaming industry in its rearview mirror.
- A game developer says game studios are considering using AI to make games, but claims humans will still be needed to correct the technology's mess.
- AI isn't ready to fully take on game development if it still needs human assistance to correct its mistakes.
Generative AI is undoubtedly redefining the world. While it remains debatable whether cutting-edge technology is a fad, its impact is evident across all spheres, including medicine, education, music, computing, and more. But what does this mean for job security?
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang already shunned coding as a plausible career option for the next generation. Huang believes it won't be long before sophisticated AI tools like OpenAI's magical GPT-4o take over coding. Instead, the CEO recommends biology, education, manufacturing, or farming as plausible alternatives.
According to Microsoft's latest Work Trend Index report, most company executives will no longer hire anyone without an AI aptitude, which has prompted "a 142x increase in LinkedIn members adding AI skills like Copilot and ChatGPT to their profiles."
Admittedly, sophisticated tools like Image Creator by Designer and ChatGPT are increasingly becoming more advanced, and are on the verge of rendering architects and interior designers obsolete in the job market. However, they've been found to fall short at simple tasks like creating a plain white image. It remains unclear how AI tools can be insanely good at generating sophisticated and detailed structural designs but fail at simple tasks.
Be it as it may, AI has a major impact on the job market, and it now seems gaming is right up its alley. While speaking to BBC, Jess Hyland, a member of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain's game workers branch, admits that AI could render her jobless at any moment.
Hyland acknowledges the impact COVID-19 has had on the gaming industry. With curfews and cessation of movement, many people hopped onto the gaming bandwagon. As a ripple effect, investments and acquisitions in the sector hit an all-time high. However, this isn't necessarily the current reality.
Though gaming remains relatively successful and profitable, many studios have permanently shut their doors, with thousands of creatives and developers left high and dry. In May, Microsoft closed three studios under ZeniMax Media, months after 1900 people were let go across Activision Blizzard, Xbox Game Studios, and ZeniMax Media.
Microsoft reported a massive increase in revenue, operating income, and more during its latest earnings call. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella attributed the immense success to the AI boom in the tech industry.
Hyland says key players in the game industry like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft have shown great interest in the technology. NVIDIA is already showing impressive development tool prototypes that game studios could adopt to save time. The tools will help developers maximize their creativity. While it sounds good on paper, not everyone is happy about the move. "The people who are most excited about AI enabling creativity aren't creatives," added Hyland.
AI can barely get the job done, it needs humans to look good
Aside from privacy and security concerns, many people are concerned about AI's impact on their jobs. While it remains unseen whether AI will completely wipe out some professions, it's evident some organizations are already integrating bits of the technology's capabilities into their workflow to make work easier.
Microsoft states that company executives have raised concerns about the lack of sufficient talent to fill vacancies in their organizations. Most executives are inclined to hire professionals with AI skills. This might stem from the possibility that companies have already started automating some tasks using AI and need employees to add a bit of human flair.
Hyland says most organizations and studios are laying off employees to cut operation costs. Most executives claim integrating AI tools into the organization's workflow and systems isn't meant to replace professionals, but to make work easier. But along the way, many skilled workers have lost jobs.
But perhaps the kicker here is that executives hire professionals to correct AI's mistakes. Ironically, this isn't a new phenomenon or specific to gaming. In a separate report, an editor at a major publication disclosed that the company laid off most of its staff and replaced them with AI to cut costs. And while AI can turn around assigned tasks and articles in seconds, more time was spent correcting its mistakes.
In the long run, the publication hired new writers to fix AI's mistakes for less pay. This builds on Hyland's premise, "jobs are going to change, but not in a good way."
According to Jess Hyland:
"The stuff that AI generates, you become the person whose job is fixing it. It's not why I got into making games."
In a recent interview, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati indicated "Some creative jobs maybe will go away. But maybe they shouldn't have been there in the first place — you know, if the content that comes out of it is not very high quality."
Chris Knowles, a former senior engine developer at UK gaming firm Jagex, is against the idea of gaming studios integrating AI into the creative process of developing games and then hiring humans to clean up its mess. "If you're going to have to hire actual human artists to fix the output, why not harness their creativity and make something new that connects with players?" added Knowles.
Finally, while AI is quite impressive, it's seemingly half-baked. It might excel at simple tasks like generating images and text. However, it's not ready to take on game development. And if it is easy, game developers aren't prepared to hit pause on their creative processes to fix AI's mess.
