Video game industry in the face of AI

Artificial intelligence took center stage at the "Gamescom" video game expo in the German city of Cologne, bringing with it new creative possibilities, but also posing serious challenges for the future of jobs and intellectual property in this field.

Julian Meier, an AI engineer and founder of the "United Bytes Game" studio, which attended the expo held from Thursday to Sunday, stated that "artificial intelligence is a turning point."

Chatbots, interactive conversation robots, automatic generation of images and code, and game scenarios are among the possible uses of artificial intelligence by video game developers.

Moreover, artificial intelligence has the ability to instantly generate images from text, allowing producers to "convey their vision" more effectively, according to Meier.

However, the images produced by artificial intelligence may threaten the work of visual artists who envision video game worlds before creating them digitally.

Meier said, "I am concerned about the future of these jobs."

The "Gamescom" expo, which attracts tens of thousands of video game enthusiasts every year, provides studios with an opportunity to showcase their latest creations.

Many players come dressed as characters from video games and gather in booths to try out new games, some of which are distinguished this year by artificial intelligence technology.

The game "Kloob Koala" from the Singaporean studio "Play For Fun" offers players the opportunity to "create their own world, an island with unique characters," created using artificial intelligence.

Fang Han, CEO of the group, said, "Artificial intelligence has become an integral part of daily life," with "enormous potential to take the gaming industry to the next level."

In turn, the Berlin-based company "IVY Games" explained that it is now using artificial intelligence in the entire process of video game innovation.

Linus Gartig of "IVY Games" told Agence France-Presse at the expo, "We use it to create texts... and add stories to the game."

He explained that the group also uses artificial intelligence "to create programming code," providing developers with a new way to build games themselves.

On the other hand, Sarah Bryn of "Kythera AI," which uses this technology to generate character movements, said, "(Artificial intelligence) makes the game unpredictable and therefore more realistic."

The American chip manufacturer "NVIDIA" confirmed this when it introduced ACE to the world, a program that developers can use to create "intelligent characters within the game" using artificial intelligence.

However, using artificial intelligence to create virtual worlds may conflict with the intellectual property rights of the original images used to produce them.

Bryn explained, "If you are a major publisher and have used generative artificial intelligence and it turns out that what you used violates intellectual property rights, you will be in a weak position."

Unlike many of its competitors, the company "Bryn" decided not to train its artificial intelligence on open databases.

In the United States, artists filed a class-action lawsuit against "Megjorni," "Staple Devision," and "Dreamap," three models of artificial intelligence created using images collected from the internet.



AFP