How AI Is Quietly Slipping Into Our Games
Artificial intelligence is creeping into modern games in ways that are easy to miss at a glance. It might just look like a slightly off character portrait, a loading screen image that feels a bit generic, or a few voice lines that sound almost human but not quite. These small details seem harmless, but together they show how studios are testing how far they can push AI without upsetting players.
Many developers are using AI because it is cheaper and faster than hiring artists, composers, or voice actors. That might save money in the short term, but it also risks replacing real creative work with machine generated content that does not understand context, emotion, or nuance. The result is not just a different workflow behind the scenes. It slowly changes how games look, sound, and feel.
The worrying part is how normal this is starting to feel. Players see AI images on store pages or AI voices in a budget game and think it is not worth getting upset about. It is just a capsule image or just a couple of voice lines. But that attitude is exactly what lets the trend grow from a tiny experiment into a standard practice.
From One Small Shortcut To A New Normal
The article points to real examples of how these AI tools are being used today. Some indie or low budget games lean on AI generated art for their Steam capsule images. It is technically needed for the store page, but it is not something most players focus on, so many people shrug and move on.
Another example is Liar's Bar, a cheap and silly game that uses AI voices for its characters. Players might forgive this because the game is an obvious low budget project and still fun with friends. When players ask for human voice acting on forums, they are sometimes mocked or dismissed. Over time, this can turn into a culture where calling out AI use is seen as overreacting, rather than raising a valid concern about quality and jobs.
Arc Raiders shows how messy this topic can be even in higher profile games. The game uses AI based voices that are built on real voice actors with their contractual consent. The idea is that the studio does not need to bring actors back every time they add a new item or line. On paper that sounds efficient and fair. In practice, it still reduces the need for recurring work from those actors and can lead to slightly janky or unnatural performances.
This is where the line between machine learning helpers and full generative AI starts to blur. Even if the system is not classic text to speech from scratch, it still automates work that used to require a person in a recording booth. That is exactly what makes many players and creators uneasy. It is not just about the tech. It is about people losing chances to get paid for their skills.
The same trend shows up in big franchises. Activision has been using AI generated art for Call of Duty calling cards over multiple releases. A company with that much money clearly has the budget to hire artists. Yet AI remains part of the pipeline, suggesting it is not a one off test but part of a longer term cost saving strategy.
The article uses a simple analogy. A kid sneaks one chocolate from a box because nobody will notice. Then another. Then another. Each individual chocolate does not feel like a big deal, but eventually the box is empty. In gaming, the first chocolate might be a background image. The next could be minor cosmetics. Then side characters. Then full casts or entire art pipelines. If players never push back, studios have little reason to stop.
Why Gamers Should Push For A Human Touch
All of this is happening while thousands of real people across the game industry are already losing their jobs through layoffs. In that context, replacing more creative roles with AI feels especially harsh. It is not just about abstract fears of the future. It is about an industry where programmers, artists, designers and voice actors are struggling, while publishers experiment with tools that further reduce the need for human labor.
The writer admits they have personally looked the other way at times. They enjoyed games that used AI voices. They ignored AI capsule art because it did not feel important. That honesty matters, because it shows how easy it is for anyone, even critics of AI, to fall into the trap of accepting it when the game itself is fun.
Calling this out is uncomfortable. Nobody likes hearing that a game they enjoy uses practices that might be harmful to workers or creativity. Friends can get defensive when you point out AI voices or AI art in a title they love. But staying silent sends a clear message to publishers and studios: players do not mind, so keep going.
The article argues that players have real power in this situation. They can talk openly about AI use in games. They can choose not to buy titles that rely on AI voices or art when it would be easy for the studio to hire people instead. They can support developers and publishers that commit to human talent. It is not about boycotting everything at once. It is about sending enough signals that companies think twice before hollowing out the creative side of game development.
If AI continues to replace more and more of the human touch in games, the long term risk is not just job loss. It is a future of games that feel flat, safe and lifeless. Human flaws, quirks and unique styles are a big part of what make characters memorable and worlds believable. Machines can copy patterns, but they do not know why something hits emotionally. Protecting that human element now means games will continue to surprise us later.
In the end, the piece makes a simple case. Be the person who asks questions before it is too late. Point out where AI is being used. Push studios, especially big ones, to invest in real people. Because if the industry keeps chasing automated shortcuts, we might wake up one day to a library of games that technically run well on our PCs but no longer feel like they were made by anyone at all.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/its-more-important-than-ever-to-call-out-developers-for-egregious-ai-usage-next-year-if-we-want-videogames-to-remain-interesting/
