Each year, GDC releases a survey of video game industry workers ahead of the week-long conference. The survey can serve as a barometer to set the tone for the conference. On a hot topic in the world of technology, the situation could not have been clearer. Only 7% of respondents described generative AI as “good for the industry.” leaving many executives and investors grappling with the question during their panels.
As reported by PC gamerMoritz Baier-Lentz of Lightspeed Venture Partners said he was “shocked and sad” by the negativity surrounding AI. Lightspeed has stakes in several AI companies, the most important of them being anthropogenic. Baier-Lentz hopes AI skeptics will reverse that attitude, saying gaming often embraces more “wonderful new technologies.”
In the same report, Baier-Lentz suggests that one of the reasons for pessimism is the same as the reason for executive enthusiasm: layoffs. The investor suggests that workforce reductions come naturally, especially after all the COVID-era investments in digital entertainment, but many companies can hardly hide their enthusiasm for automated work.
Layoffs are just one of the major divides between AI and gaming. Even beyond economic instability, environmental damage and future appearances in The Haguethe resources reserved for data farms result in a disruptive RAM crisisraising hardware prices and making PC gaming a rich man’s pastime.
Elsewhere at GDC, Xbox also had a major meeting to discuss its next console, currently titled Project Helix. Although Microsoft has invested heavily in AI elsewhere, the controversial technology has been rather coy in its presentations at GDC. Xbox waited until the end of the event to announce that its AI client, Copilot, will arrive on Xbox consoles later this year.