Phil Spencer Is Against Using AI To Replace The “Creative Process” Of Game Development

Artificial Intelligence has been growing at an unprecedented rate recently, and Phil Spencer is among the figures that are excited about using the tech, but not in ways many gamers expected. As per a new report by The Guardian, Phil spoke at the Xbox Game Showcase event recently, discussing how he is against the AI tech being used to replace the “creative process” of the developers in game development.

I’ll say as a head of Xbox, I’m very protective of the creative process. A year or maybe 18 months ago, every question I got was, when am I building the NFT game? And, I’m like, games aren’t built to showcase technology. Technology helps showcase the creativity in a game. AI’s been in video games for decades and I like to make tools available to our creators so they can make the best games, and that’s where I start.”

The head of Xbox is more interested in developing tools to help devs effectively develop games without stealing creativity. Phil also seeks to utilize the wonders of AI in policy and enforcement. For instance, he iterates that the amount of traffic on Xbox Live is too much for humans to handle, and using AI can greatly help with controlling it.

So applying technology that can ensure that the right conversations are happening with the right people, that’s an area where the intersection between Microsoft’s AI capability and what gaming is doing is important.”

The CEO’s words are certainly a positive take on the usage of AI in recent times amid the competition. Ubisoft only recently revealed its new AI tool Ghostwriter, which creates first drafts of NPC barks for its characters. It can create custom NPC dialogues automatically that can then be refined by game devs. A slew of patents published by companies like EA, and Sony are also researching AI heavily to automate game development processes.

The recent rise of AI has caught many industries entirely off guard, and the video games ecosystem is among the biggest affectees. AI has existed in games for a long time, whether it is in NPCs or the way features in a title are designed, but things have been shifting dramatically when video game development is concerned.

Phil Spencer is among the figures that are wary about using too much AI in the development process, as it can take away the creative freedom of the devs. There are many fears surrounding the evolving tech, as it may cause artists to go out of work or affect their importance in the industry. Regardless, using AI in moderation could help the devs; it can ease the game’s development lifecycles instead of replacing or endangering the devs’ creativity.

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