Major investor is 'shocked and sad' that the games industry is 'demonizing' generative AI

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Sat Mar 14, 2026, 03:50 AM - Edit history (1)

Oh, the poor venture capitalists...

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/major-investor-is-shocked-and-sad-that-the-games-industry-is-demonizing-generative-ai/

In a theater set off to the side of this week's Game Developers Conference, representatives from big tech companies and venture capital firms spoke about, among other things, their enthusiasm for generative AI. Many of the attendees over in the main convention halls don't feel the same way: 52% of respondents to a recent GDC survey said that they think generative AI is bad for the games industry, and only 7% agreed that it's a good thing.

-snip-

During a group discussion about how the games industry can "capitalize on shifting trends in customer engagement," Baier-Lentz said that he's "shocked and sad" that the industry has not embraced generative AI, noting that the gaming business has previously pushed new technology forward. He accused anti-AI game developers of "demonizing" a "marvelous new technology."

-snip-

As for why there's so much negative sentiment around AI among game developers, Baier-Lentz reckons that after record layoffs in the wake of the Covid hiring boom, people are worried about their jobs.

Yeah, I'd say that's one of the reasons they don't like it! Others include the use of artists' work without consent, environmental issues, the quality of AI output, and the feeling that automating culture production can only result in what is now commonly called "AI slop."

-snip-

Link to the Jan. 29 story about that survey:

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/more-than-half-of-game-developers-now-think-generative-ai-is-bad-for-the-industry-a-dramatic-increase-from-just-2-years-ago-id-rather-quit-the-industry-than-use-generative-ai/

Over 50% of game developers now think generative AI is bad for the industry, a dramatic increase from just 2 years ago: 'I'd rather quit the industry than use generative AI'
News
By Tyler Wilde published January 29, 2026
The latest GDC survey also found that managers are more likely to use generative AI than their employees.


According to a survey of game developers published by GDC—the annual industry conference happening in San Francisco this March—33% of game dev professionals use generative AI for their work. This hasn't changed much since 2021, when GDC reported that 31% of devs use generative AI, but how they feel about it has dramatically shifted.

This year, 52% of the more than 2,300 respondents said that they "think generative AI is having a negative impact on the game industry," according to the report's author, Beth Elderkin, who notes that just 18% said the same thing two years ago, and 30% last year.

The opposite opinion, that generative AI is good for the industry, was only found in 7% of this year's respondents, a decline from 13% last year. The people least likely to approve of generative AI are who you'd expect: artists, designers, writers, and programmers.

-snip-

"Our standing rule is: If one of us brings up using GenAI in any of our work, then it's safe to assume we've been assimilated by The Thing and should be burned alive by Kurt Russell," said a game design consultant in the US.

[RandySF]

1. AI is like any other technology

Garbage in, garbage out. The AI on my iPhone sucks.

[canetoad]

2. Keeping voice actors

In employment in other words.

[Fichefinder]

3. Can we stop picking anti-social jerks as role models?

Can we start admiring people who know when they have enough.

[flamingdem]

4. I think that many are using AI but not letting it be fully known

This way they can continue to be paid and keep their jobs.

It's just too enticing to save hours of time say creating a background image and I don't believe they're that purist.

And that's how it should be used. To help creatives focus on the important stuff and do less drudge work.

[highplainsdem]

9. You wrote:

It's just too enticing to save hours of time say creating a background image and I don't believe they're that purist.

It isn't "purist" to be ethical. And for creatives, it isn't "enticing" to use an AI model trained illegally on the stolen work of other creatives like themselves, and possibly their own work.

It's fraud if someone uses AI to pretend that they did something they didn't do, or that they have knowledge they don't have. I suppose it could simply be called pretense, if you think it's unimportant, but it's still dishonest. It's trickery, which is what fraud is.

And AI tools themselves, trained on stolen intellectual property, are so fundamentally unethical that people concerned about that theft aren't likely to use them voluntarily, though they might be forced to by their job or school.

Even if that employee is unethical enough to consider using AI for that pretense, they're probably aware of how badly flawed the tech is, how often its results have to be corrected, and how likely it is their using AI to pretend they did something will be discovered. Hurting their own reputation. Which they'd bring on themselves by using AI.

Using AI doesn't "help creatives focus on the important stuff" - it's a complete misunderstanding of the important stuff. A rejection of real creativity, real talent. A mockery of it.

Just as kids using AI to cheat in school have turned their education into a joke, even if they think they're being clever.

I've never understood anyone choosing to use AI when they don't have to. I usually try to chalk it up to their not really understanding how unethical and harmful it is. But I have sometimes seen AI users on other platforms post gleefully about wanting to see real artists lose their livelihoods and end up replaced by AI users, so it seems that for some AI users, at least, envy and resentment overwhelm any ethical considerations. And some might be so lazy they don't care about ethics. And some are apparently motivated by greed and hope to use AI to make some money with little or no effort - that's why we see so much atrocious AI slop on YouTube. So that's envy, laziness and greed, and sometimes all three. Not a pretty picture.

Which is why I hope, until it's proven otherwise, that AI users just don't understand how unethical AI is. And I keep trying to explain why it's unethical.

[flamingdem]

10. Interesting points

I'm going to try to find out how, if and when AI is being used in games.
Hard to believe that it's not being utilized in some form but for sure
there are concerns. I have heard fears voiced about not keeping up.

Artists have been stealing forever though obviously that is indirect.

[highplainsdem]

11. Some games use AI, but there's usually backlash against it. For good reason.

And AI plagiarism machines are not artists...and neither are AI users:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ai-doesnt-learn-like-people-do

[jfz9580m]

5. What a brainless piece of shit.nt

[ToxMarz]

6. There is no upside to getting into bed with AI (unless you own the AI)

It's really cool and helpful until it steals everything it can learn from you, your business, your industry. Then it doesn't need you anymore, and no one else does either. It's like this snake I read about in some garden some where with an apple it was trying to get everyone to eat.

[0rganism]

7. Creatives ambivalent toward the technology that will eat their labor for free and shit out slop? How could this happen?

Goodness no! Say it isn't so!

[Beartracks]

8. Slop AND a risk of the gradual flattening of creative output.