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As the rise of generative AI continues to prove a popular talking point amid developers and gamers alike, PUBG creator Brendan Greene weighs in with his own thoughts – and it's safe to say he thinks the technology should at least not replace humans' roles in production.
Greene conveys as much during a recent interview with Eurogamer while answering whether or not his studio PlayerUnknown Productions employs the use of gen AI at all to help with its work on world-generating tech. "We don't use LLMs [large language models] so I'm not super worried [about backlash]," admits the dev. "LLMs have their uses, but there were chatbots in the 60s and 70s that achieved a lot of similar things."
He continues, explaining how his team's use of AI actually looks. "So I'm not super worried there. The systems we're building are to enable the artists to sculpt the worlds how they want," the PUBG mastermind describes. "It's like an orchestra: we can be either a violin player or we can be the conductor, where you know what everything does, and you just have some levers you can pull, and it creates worlds pretty quickly."
As for Greene's views on gen AI and the backlash it's been met with from gamers, the dev gets it. "I've been really heartened to see the community revolt against AI stuff. It's good to see that gamers go: 'No – if it's not built by artists, I don't want to see it.' So that's been really great to see." He reiterates that he's "not super worried" about PlayerUnknown Productions' use of AI, as "I think we're using it in the right way."
What is the right way? According to Greene, one "that enables you to create worlds quicker, rather than taking away the jobs of artists." It's certainly an interesting assertion – especially when considering Krafton, which published PUBG and remains an investor in Greene's studio still, just rebranded itself as an "AI first" company. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that PlayerUnknown Productions shares in Krafton's controversial new strategy.
"As a fully independent studio, our overall goals at PlayerUnknown Productions are not influenced by Krafton's chosen strategy," as Greene states. "While Krafton remains a minority stakeholder in our studio, their internal operations are separate from ours since 2021." I suppose it makes sense – and Greene isn't alone in voicing his feelings on AI in development as an industry figure, either.
Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu recently described how he's "never used AI and probably never will" himself, as it's not rewarding. Arc Raiders lead Patrick Söderlund also spoke on the matter, stating that games "can't be built by an AI" and "I hope they never can." Motoi Okamoto, Silent Hill series producer, detailed how new Konami title Silent Hill f contains "the kind of bold choices AI would never be able to make" as well.
It'll be interesting to see how Greene's words apply to PlayerUnknown Productions' upcoming projects, like survival game Prologue: Go Wayback. It's set to launch in just two days on November 20, so there's not long left to wait now.
Be sure to browse through our roundup of the most exciting new games coming this year and beyond for fresh titles to wishlist.
