As major publishers and giant tech companies attempt to shove generative AI into everything, World of Warcraft Midnight's composer counts himself lucky that Blizzard Entertainment seemingly isn't using the tech.
World of Warcraft's lead composer Leo Kaliski says as much in an interview with Game Informer ahead of the long-running MMORPG's next expansion, Midnight, out now in early access and due to release for everyone on March 2, 2026.
Generative AI and its use in game development has been a hot button topic these last few years, whether it's focused on Arc Raiders' text-to-voice dialogue or a highly controversial texture in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's launch, but Kaliski is thankful that AI-generated music is a bit easier to spot than other forms of the tech.
"I feel lucky that AI in music still feels quite a way off," he says. "Sometimes you look at AI photos, and if you don't look closely, you might not know it's AI. Music is not there yet. Usually, you hear it, and you instantly know something is not right about it, or the fidelity isn’t there. So in some ways, it's not as top of mind as it probably is for other artists."
Either way, he continues to say that "we here at Blizzard feel very lucky and happy that we're not using generative AI" and the team is "just writing what we think is cool, and are happy to do that."
Elsewhere in the industry, Square Enix laid off over 100 employees after pledging it would automate 70% of its debugging and quality assurance using AI. PUBG and Subnautica 2's publisher also announced it would transform into an "AI first" company late last year.
