Former Dragon Age writer says AI could make gamedev ‘frustrating as hell’: ‘How are we going to train up the next generation of devs if we eliminate every entry-level task?’

Much has been said about the way generative AI is worming its way into game development pipelines, and David Gaider—former BioWare writer and lead writer on the first three Dragon Age games—recently spoke to GamesRadar about some of the dangers he foresees for future teams working with these tools.

Gaider said that AI’s lack of consistency would make appraising, troubleshooting, and cleaning up its work difficult. The process of having to go back and touch up its output, not knowing why it spat out a certain result “would be frustrating as hell … it’s not ready for prime time,” he said. “There’s just a lot of executives who really, really want it to be.”

The writer also told GamesRadar that the idea that AI can replace rote tasks often handed off to junior developers isn’t necessarily a good thing, either: “How are we going to train up the next generation of devs if we eliminate every entry-level task?”

AI tools have been used in a ‘creative’ sense as well—the explanation often goes that they’re just used for placeholders or helping with early prototypes and concepts—but Gaider is wary of this application too, given that artists haven’t agreed to have “their data pillaged.” The reaction to the new Crazy Taxi game suggests that a lot of players are also skeptical of AI’s creative applications.

Many other devs were quoted in GamesRadar’s feature, and while not all of them shared the exact same concerns about AI, their feelings were along the same lines. Iron Lung and Dusk creator David Szymanski, for instance, said he’s not “not categorically against AI as a whole technology” but finds it a bridge too far to “hand wave all the ethical concerns about plagiarism, environmental impact, and job security.” Marvel Rivals executive producer Danny Koo said the worries about plagiarism were of particular concern, saying the team avoided AI art tools to ensure the game’s assets weren’t “poisoned.”