Blizzard Entertainment, the Irvine-based video game developer and publisher best known for its Warcraft and Diablo games, including The War Within (World of Warcraft’s tenth expansion) and 2023’s Diablo IV, is one of the few gaming companies that have distanced themselves from the use of generative AI, according to a new investigative article that claims the studio, which launched in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, has, despite having developed its own AI tools, “all but banned generative AI” for use among its developers. Activision, its sibling studio, appears to be taking a different approach, having apparently used generative AI for game development (e.g., paid cosmetics for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III) amid its laying off of what’s been described as scores of workers.
From a report:
- “‘There are basically two camps,’ says Karla Ortiz, an artist who often works in the industry, companies that are like ‘Oh, hell no,’ and companies who see this as ‘Ooh I can cut labor costs.'”
- “… some studios have all but banned generative AI use. According to multiple sources, Blizzard, unlike its sibling studio Activision, doesn’t allow devs to use publicly available AI generators, even as it develops its own AI tools.”
- “…Activision assured its artists that generative AI would be used only for internal concepts…yet by the end of the year, Activision made an AI-generated cosmetic available for purchase on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 store.”
- “In late January, Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees—among the teams hit hard were 2D artists.”
- “A recent survey from the organizers of the Game Developers Conference found that 49 percent of the survey’s more than 3,000 respondents said their workplace used AI, and four out of five said they had ethical concerns about its use.”
A new Diablo IV: Spiritborn video that shows off some of Blizzard’s latest work:
As for where the gaming industry might be headed:
IF THERE’S ONE thing a number of games workers say they’re glad AI is generating, it’s more interest in unions. “AI is definitely a catalyst for workers to organize,” says Beglov, who appeared on a panel on the topic at this year’s GDC. “If AI is going to be used, it has to be used with workers’ consent and workers having a voice.” Fifty-seven percent of developers surveyed by GDC organizers this year said they were in support of unionizing.
Join the discussion in The FPS Review Forums...
Discussion (7 replies)
Join Discussion →
Good blizzard should. Just... wow yea I will be avoiding Activision only products from here on out.
Why are there no reasonable people anymore? Why does everyone have to take one of the most extreme positions?
Guess using AI where it is appropriate and applicable is not an option? Either total ban or it is flowing from the taps?
Reading comprehension helps here. All but banned. Means it's not banned but restricted. So it isn't the most extreme response.
This is the interesting part:
According to multiple sources, Blizzard ... doesn’t allow devs to use publicly available AI generators, even as it develops its own AI tools.
So - they can use their own AI stuff, just not public stuff
Which ... tells me this isn't about AI at all. It's about Blizzard being afraid that their material (I would guess both whatever they are using to generate the content, and the generated content itself) will leak out into public domain, or they are trying to head off any potential licensing issues with a third party claiming that because it was generated either using their code, in part by material they provided to train the AI, or by the AI running on their hardware, that they hold some claim to the content.
"Grimlakin, post: 87452, member: 215" wrote:Reading comprehension helps here. All but banned. Means it's not banned but restricted. So it isn't the most extreme response.
Reading more than the headline helps too. They completely banned generative AI,
Their own tools might not even be generative AI, as it is not specified what kind of AI they are developing internally. Even if it is generative its probably purpose built for specific tasks and not universal.
using public AI is effectively giving away your IP to the vendors. And people with sufficient knowledge to make the AI regurgitate information will be able to retrieve it. So yea... using public AI for your private IP is tantamount to giving it away.
"MadMummy76, post: 87473, member: 1298" wrote:Reading more than the headline helps too. They completely banned generative AI,
No. They banned public AI
Discussion (7 replies)
Join Discussion →Good blizzard should. Just... wow yea I will be avoiding Activision only products from here on out.
Why are there no reasonable people anymore? Why does everyone have to take one of the most extreme positions?
Guess using AI where it is appropriate and applicable is not an option? Either total ban or it is flowing from the taps?
Reading comprehension helps here. All but banned. Means it's not banned but restricted. So it isn't the most extreme response.
This is the interesting part:
According to multiple sources, Blizzard ... doesn’t allow devs to use publicly available AI generators, even as it develops its own AI tools.
So - they can use their own AI stuff, just not public stuff
Which ... tells me this isn't about AI at all. It's about Blizzard being afraid that their material (I would guess both whatever they are using to generate the content, and the generated content itself) will leak out into public domain, or they are trying to head off any potential licensing issues with a third party claiming that because it was generated either using their code, in part by material they provided to train the AI, or by the AI running on their hardware, that they hold some claim to the content.
Reading more than the headline helps too. They completely banned generative AI,
Their own tools might not even be generative AI, as it is not specified what kind of AI they are developing internally. Even if it is generative its probably purpose built for specific tasks and not universal.
using public AI is effectively giving away your IP to the vendors. And people with sufficient knowledge to make the AI regurgitate information will be able to retrieve it. So yea... using public AI for your private IP is tantamount to giving it away.
No. They banned public AI