Nier: Automata creative director Yoko Taro says AI will replace “All Game Creators”

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In a new interview with Famitsu, Nier: Automata creative director Yoko Taro was asked about AI in game development and where he thinks it's going to go.

"I also think that all game creators will lose their jobs due to AI," he told the outlet (translated). In 50 years, game creators may be treated like bards."

He continued: "Eventually, I think we will change from an era where people imitate the style of their favorite creators to an era where they can generate their favorite scenarios. AI judges the user's preferences and successfully generates route branches that the person wants to read, and the ability of recommendations is developing more and more."


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If you think about it, if this technology keeps advancing and growing, it could trigger major changes in the entertainment industry.

Designers and developers could go from the people that do the job, to the people that grease the robots that do the job.

It would take many, many years, and it will depend a lot on what governments and corporations do to limit that.

In short, there's another reason the human being is screwed.
 
That's an interesting idea.... THAT WE COULD MAYBE EXPLORE IN A NEW NIER GAME THAT ISN'T ON FUCKING PHONES.
Thanks Mr Taro.
 
What does he mean by "In 50 years Game creators will be treated like bards?"
I'd think he refers to being obsolete, replaced by more sophisticated forms of the same art.

I agree with Mr. Taro but I'm not sure if it will be in 50 years and also not only for game creators. Difficult to imagine right now, specially for people not fully aware of AI advancement, but it will happen.
 
Shut up and make a new Nier!

No shit sherlock, AI will replace almost any desk job. Even doctors will get replaced by AI…
 
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Shut up and make a new Nier!

No shit sherlock, AI will replace almost any desk job. Even doctors will get replaced by AI…

How does this work if humans ourselves push back to this technological change? If the culture is to prefer human creations........then can A.I. replace all those jobs?
 
Seems like instead of replacing all game developers with AI they could teach all game developers to use AI then make all games 80% faster and allow teams to release a new game every year.
 
Seems like instead of replacing all game developers with AI they could teach all game developers to use AI then make all games 80% faster and allow teams to release a new game every year.
Even then it will still lead to the future he describes. It's only a matter of time until I can just tell chatgpt what I want and it will fully create the game for me. Remakes wont even be a thing anymore cause I'll just be able to tell AI to take chrono trigger and recreate it with all the latest graphics.
 
How does this work if humans ourselves push back to this technological change? If the culture is to prefer human creations........then can A.I. replace all those jobs?
That's only because people don't want to adapt to change as quick as AI brings that change. But fact is, even if people are clinging to their desk jobs, there's most probably one CEO on top of every business who'd like to generate more money by having fewer employees and that CEO will go with an AI rather than manual workforce. Writing e-mails and answering customer inquiries for 40hrs a week? Completely useless to pay a salary for that…

AI will be more efficient than any human can ever be, people can't even compete with AI and soon even mechanical work benefits or gets replaced by AI. It's already been there, just take a look at how much workforce we needed back in the 50s and how much work gets done by robots today. Now we only need to connect the robot with an AI to make it even more autonomous.

And that's good for many, while terrible for others, but it's safe to say that we'll need more people in social work anyway and let machines do the desk jobs.

I read an interesting article the other day about how even the field of medicine could benefit with AI. AI is faster and more accurate at detecting cardiological problems by analyzing EKGs than any cardiologist could ever be. But that also means we don't really need cardiologists, at least not that many, to begin with. Or pathologists, which do nothing but analyze tumor cells, of course AI will be more efficient than these kind of doctors.
 
I'd think he refers to being obsolete, replaced by more sophisticated forms of the same art.

I agree with Mr. Taro but I'm not sure if it will be in 50 years and also not only for game creators. Difficult to imagine right now, specially for people not fully aware of AI advancement, but it will happen.
50 years is too far down, I give it ten years max.
 
That's only because people don't want to adapt to change as quick as AI brings that change. But fact is, even if people are clinging to their desk jobs, there's most probably one CEO on top of every business who'd like to generate more money by having fewer employees and that CEO will go with an AI rather than manual workforce. Writing e-mails and answering customer inquiries for 40hrs a week? Completely useless to pay a salary for that…

AI will be more efficient than any human can ever be, people can't even compete with AI and soon even mechanical work benefits or gets replaced by AI. It's already been there, just take a look at how much workforce we needed back in the 50s and how much work gets done by robots today. Now we only need to connect the robot with an AI to make it even more autonomous.

And that's good for many, while terrible for others, but it's safe to say that we'll need more people in social work anyway and let machines do the desk jobs.

I read an interesting article the other day about how even the field of medicine could benefit with AI. AI is faster and more accurate at detecting cardiological problems by analyzing EKGs than any cardiologist could ever be. But that also means we don't really need cardiologists, at least not that many, to begin with. Or pathologists, which do nothing but analyze tumor cells, of course AI will be more efficient than these kind of doctors.

No, I think you misunderstood. I mean what happens if the culture of humanity mainly wants to deal with companies that have mainly human workers? Like how certain food are labled "GMO-free" or "Organic". At some point, humans will push back against A.I. and robots taking ALL the jobs. It's inevitable. If the unemployment rate hits 25% in main 1st world countries in the next 10 years, best believe there will be an uprising. So how will we get to A.I. and robots taking over 75% of all jobs?
 
Guy who knows nothing about AI gives his take on AI.

Next, ask a writer about graphics rendering.
 
No, I think you misunderstood. I mean what happens if the culture of humanity mainly wants to deal with companies that have mainly human workers? Like how certain food are labled "GMO-free" or "Organic". At some point, humans will push back against A.I. and robots taking ALL the jobs. It's inevitable. If the unemployment rate hits 25% in main 1st world countries in the next 10 years, best believe there will be an uprising. So how will we get to A.I. and robots taking over 75% of all jobs?
Are you picturing a terminator scenario? Men vs. machines?

People will adapt, inevitably. It's not like there won't be jobs available, but certain jobs will become obsolete, which is great, because we're going to need more teachers, caretakers, nurses, streetworkers et cetera anyway, everything that relies heavily on human to human interaction.

Jungling numbers on wallstreet? That's nothing a good A.I. can't do. And hopefully economies will shift to paying the really relevant jobs better. Currently, the most relevant jobs to keep this society alive are the worst paid jobs. People who clean the streets, take care of the elderly or teach children are among the worst paid jobs in my country. Compared to managers in small to medium sized businesses, who sit at their desk most of the time.

I'm currently also working at a desk, but I'm pretty sure I'll be back in a kitchen as a chef in the next few years, people need food, I'm a certified chef, that's manual labour but I guess more future-proof than being dependent on a desk job.
 
it will depend a lot on what governments and corporations do to limit that.
You think they'd want to limit it?

Replacing human effort with AI boosts productivity and profits. The powers that be don't want to limit that, they want it to happen sooner.
 
No, I think you misunderstood. I mean what happens if the culture of humanity mainly wants to deal with companies that have mainly human workers? Like how certain food are labled "GMO-free" or "Organic". At some point, humans will push back against A.I. and robots taking ALL the jobs. It's inevitable. If the unemployment rate hits 25% in main 1st world countries in the next 10 years, best believe there will be an uprising. So how will we get to A.I. and robots taking over 75% of all jobs?

This is a real issue that cannot be approached in ways humanity has dealt with social issues in the past.

Current economic models will be useless in this situation. Even if companies jump in and automate as fast as possible, there won't be consumers to provide income. Something gotta give!

Personally I believe the transition will be pretty bloody but if humanity happens to survive a golden era will begin.

Also, I don't think any of us will be around to see/enjoy it.
 
Personally I believe the transition will be pretty bloody but if humanity happens to survive a golden era will begin.

Also, I don't think any of us will be around to see/enjoy it.

Mass unemployment is innetivable, and we are already seeing widespread devastation in the software engineering space, which is quite ironic all things considered.

Our tech team at work leads cyber security for the british government, including safety protocols and algorithms for the Trident systems... during covid, we had job openings on the software engineering team taking months to fill.

This last few months, they had 2 senior engineer jobs and received 45,000 applications. Forty five thousand. Absolutely insane, and if that doesn't worry you, you need to prepare fast.

There are a lot of people out of work already. The rapid adoption of AI will absolutely destabilize global economies by causing mass unemployment, undermining consumer spending, and widening inequality. As AI automates not just manual labor but white-collar and creative jobs, millions could find themselves displaced with few alternatives. Without sufficient regulatory frameworks or redistribution policies, wealth and power could concentrate in the hands of a few tech monopolies, further eroding the middle class. As demand collapses, traditional economic models based on consumer growth may fail, triggering financial crises, political unrest, and widespread systemic instability. Nations unable to adapt could face economic collapse, and global supply chains could fracture under the pressure.

You can absolutely guranttee civil unrest, and far worse if the issue is not taken seriously. This is the biggest 'industrial revolution' we have ever seen. It's going to hit one industry at a time, almost like that grim reaper knocking on doors meme. Once major industry leaders start to use AI they realise they can fire a lot of people and become more profitable, it is as simple as that. Very very few industries are safe. Manual labour perhaps, but the thing is, if consumer spending completely collapses from everyone being out of work, even the manual labour jobs will suddenly run into supply and demand problems, leading to even more unemployment. If there are not enough consumers to buy things and pay for services, it doesnt matter if a robot can replace you or not, there is no market to be had.
 
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Nah. More doomsday talk. The robots are going to take over! It's like 1950s SF.

AI is not creative, except in the most crude way. It cannot create beauty, just regurgitate it. AI just does what programmers (not exactly "creatives") tell it to do. That's not to say AI will not replace many jobs in the industry. However, he said "all," including the ones at the top, the originators. That's what I disagree with.

I wonder how much of this pessimism comes from our materialistic, mechanical, soulless view of who we are and what life is. Sad. It matches Toro's apparent philosophy, so I'm not surprised he talks like this.

Admittedly, if any "art form" is most vulnerable to being supplanted by AI, it would be videogames. No offense to our hobby, but it's the least artistic/creative of the bunch, the most mechanical, the shallowest and least 'human' of the arts.
 
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Mass unemployment is innetivable, and we are already seeing widespread devastation in the software engineering space, which is quite ironic all things considered.

Our tech team at work leads cyber security for the british government, including safety protocols and algorithms for the Trident systems... during covid, we had job openings on the software engineering team taking months to fill.

This last few months, they had 2 senior engineer jobs and received 45,000 applications. Forty five thousand. Absolutely insane, and if that doesn't worry you, you need to prepare fast.

There are a lot of people out of work already. The rapid adoption of AI will absolutely destabilize global economies by causing mass unemployment, undermining consumer spending, and widening inequality. As AI automates not just manual labor but white-collar and creative jobs, millions could find themselves displaced with few alternatives. Without sufficient regulatory frameworks or redistribution policies, wealth and power could concentrate in the hands of a few tech monopolies, further eroding the middle class. As demand collapses, traditional economic models based on consumer growth may fail, triggering financial crises, political unrest, and widespread systemic instability. Nations unable to adapt could face economic collapse, and global supply chains could fracture under the pressure.

You can absolutely guranttee civil unrest, and far worse if the issue is not taken seriously. This is the biggest 'industrial revolution' we have ever seen. It's going to hit one industry at a time, almost like that grim reaper knocking on doors meme. Once major industry leaders start to use AI they realise they can fire a lot of people and become more profitable, it is as simple as that. Very very few industries are safe. Manual labour perhaps, but the thing is, if consumer spending completely collapses from everyone being out of work, even the manual labour jobs will suddenly run into supply and demand problems, leading to even more unemployment. If there are not enough consumers to buy things and pay for services, it doesnt matter if a robot can replace you or not, there is no market to be had.
Yeah, I've been involved in the industry since 2018 and the rate of change is insane.

Personally, I don't think the unemployment has been influenced significantly by these tools just yet as companies are still struggling to make it work but it's just a matter of time. I agree with everything else, it's going to be crazy.
 
again, Star Trek (Next Generation) gave us the most accurate guess at this future entertainment world, way back in the 1980s

The holodeck is what gaming will be, more or less:
- user explains in plain language what they want to play;
- you can reference existing works or genres ("make it a new Sherlock-style mystery, but set in the year..."), adjust on the fly ("restart, with more devious characters that have their own agendas")
- you can freely collaborate with the AI on the setting and details ("more like a 1920s diner, use elements of copper and dramatic lighting.. that's better")
- you can save that "program" but it's really just like saving the results of your collaboration, which in some cases might be the results of hours spent with the AI planning out the world

But at the same time, actual creators will still exist--people who are paid to create high-quality scenarios, or to fit a certain taste (or a niche... like Quark's slave girls program, IYKYK). For the most part, however, there won't be a whole lot of programming or traditional game dev, except for high-level game design in these more curated programs.
 
AI is not creative, except in the most crude way.
I hear this one a lot.

People cling to the idea that humans possess some magic capability to generate ideas that can't be emulated. They think they'll always be able to distinguish between the products of human thought and machine generated output.

It's already not true and becoming less true by the day. I don't blame anyone for not being able to keep up with the speed at which things are developing, but the next couple of decades are gonna be a real eye opener.
 
AI could generate games of course but without some kind of human touch what's even the point? It's not art. It loses its spark.

I guess it kinda depends on what you're playing games for. If you play a Yoko Taro game you're in it for the expression of the creator. You want to uncover what they're trying to convey and immerse yourself in their art.

If you just want to play a fun game without story then that would make more sense. An AI can't express itself because it isn't conscious and probably can't be. I remain skeptical until the day comes.
 
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I hear this one a lot.

People cling to the idea that humans possess some magic capability to generate ideas that can't be emulated. They think they'll always be able to distinguish between the products of human thought and machine generated output.

It's already not true and becoming less true by the day. I don't blame anyone for not being able to keep up with the speed at which things are developing, but the next couple of decades are gonna be a real eye opener.

I should've distinguished. I'm talking about creative in the capital A artistic sense. Shakespeare, Steinbeck - that kind of creative. I'm not talking about generating an image that looks like what a human being might have produced. I know AI can do that. To me, that's not creative, just imitative. It wouldn't even call it lower-case "art," although I suppose you could make the argument.

But capital A "art" goes far beyond that. It requires human imagination, artistic sensibility, sense of beauty, originality, psychological understanding, spiritual dimension. That's the creativity I'm talking about. High-level, capital-A artistic creativity, the kind celebrated throughout the history of literature and art - the kind that changes people's lives, shifts the culture, creates movements. Can you construct an AI program to do that? I wouldn't hold my breath.

Otoh, I can imagine a day when AI will be able to generate trash novels (e.g., Harlequin romances or spy thrillers) that people will buy. They are pretty formulaic, so developing an algorithm to capture that wouldn't be too daunting. That's creativity of a sort, I suppose, but I meant creative in the fullest sense, the capital "A" art sense, not just iterating on formulas a human being developed.
 
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Writing e-mails and answering customer inquiries for 40hrs a week? Completely useless to pay a salary for that…
To be fair that goes 10x for what most CEOs do.
Of course if we extrapolate to the extreme Yoko Taro is, all tech jobs are obsolete.

They think they'll always be able to distinguish between the products of human thought and machine generated output.
Distinguishing that is orthogonal to any creative inputs though. Most of human produced showelware is devoid of anything creative also (though it's still often better than any AI slop, for now).
 
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*chatgpt puts out a picture of a shitty looking cat*

guys i cannot wait for it to generate video games for me in a couple of years
 
Sooner or later. I mean if we look at the games that people realize - outside of some - most of them are copy-paste from other games with nominally adjusted mechanics.

Imagine the future where you can ask AI to create the game that looks like FF but you write your own plot and dialogues and stuff.
 
Imagine the future where you can ask AI to create the game that looks like FF but you write your own plot and dialogues and stuff.

Sounds like a hellscape to me. Millions of "stories" without meaning, inspiration, or surprise factor. Just tropes recycled and recombined over and over to create a facsimile of art.

Its empty. Its like replacing sex with a lifetime of wanking. Sure, you might know how to please yourself but eventually you'll realize its just a substitute for the thing that you really want/actually makes you happy.
 
How does this work if humans ourselves push back to this technological change? If the culture is to prefer human creations........then can A.I. replace all those jobs?
Culture massively prefer craft over art, and who created craft - human or machine irrelevant for mass market. Same as with goods - many goods created by robots and people don't complain about this, it's even considered higher quality than goods done by cheap labor

No, I think you misunderstood. I mean what happens if the culture of humanity mainly wants to deal with companies that have mainly human workers?
Barmens and waitresses will always have their jobs
Previous wave of automatization in 00' when clercs job where automated did increased those job tremendously
 
Mass unemployment is innetivable, and we are already seeing widespread devastation in the software engineering space, which is quite ironic all things considered.

Our tech team at work leads cyber security for the british government, including safety protocols and algorithms for the Trident systems... during covid, we had job openings on the software engineering team taking months to fill.

This last few months, they had 2 senior engineer jobs and received 45,000 applications. Forty five thousand. Absolutely insane, and if that doesn't worry you, you need to prepare fast.

There are a lot of people out of work already. The rapid adoption of AI will absolutely destabilize global economies by causing mass unemployment, undermining consumer spending, and widening inequality. As AI automates not just manual labor but white-collar and creative jobs, millions could find themselves displaced with few alternatives. Without sufficient regulatory frameworks or redistribution policies, wealth and power could concentrate in the hands of a few tech monopolies, further eroding the middle class. As demand collapses, traditional economic models based on consumer growth may fail, triggering financial crises, political unrest, and widespread systemic instability. Nations unable to adapt could face economic collapse, and global supply chains could fracture under the pressure.

You can absolutely guranttee civil unrest, and far worse if the issue is not taken seriously. This is the biggest 'industrial revolution' we have ever seen. It's going to hit one industry at a time, almost like that grim reaper knocking on doors meme. Once major industry leaders start to use AI they realise they can fire a lot of people and become more profitable, it is as simple as that. Very very few industries are safe. Manual labour perhaps, but the thing is, if consumer spending completely collapses from everyone being out of work, even the manual labour jobs will suddenly run into supply and demand problems, leading to even more unemployment. If there are not enough consumers to buy things and pay for services, it doesnt matter if a robot can replace you or not, there is no market to be had.
Must be all those journalists
 
How does this work if humans ourselves push back to this technological change? If the culture is to prefer human creations........then can A.I. replace all those jobs?
As if your average consumer gives a fuck, to be honest.

Overweight conspiracy theory enthusiast Candice from South Carolina wants her entertainment trailer tailor made, and she wants it now!
 
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