As AI continues to permeate our society and culture at a breakneck pace, a lot of discussion is being had about gaming development. Over the years, the game development industry has come under fire for issues like “crunch culture” which have tested the boundaries of employer-employee relationships and come into the media spotlight for being toxic. Now with AI, there could potentially come relief for overworked developers in the industry….if capital interests don’t get in the way.

According to an industry report from Unity, 62% of gaming studios are now leveraging AI for a number of purposes, most of which involve saving time. This means that developers won’t be overworked anymore because they have better tools to make them more efficient, right? Most likely, no, but in the spirit of fairness…maybe. This does mean that consumers will be getting bigger and better products faster, which means more money for the companies making them. AI can help write code and dialogue and even generate whole landscapes and artwork. This most likely means real human jobs will be lost in the process as companies will use these technologies to keep from having to pay as many or any individuals to do it.

While the future is now, it still remains to be seen how the ethical concerns surrounding AI technology will play out. We are still in the early stages, but things will change quickly. Despite the uncertainties, many developers remain optimistic and are even excited about the engineering opportunities that will come from these new tools, and in conjunction with other new wave technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality, the sky is truly the limit.