Microsoft might say its top priority right now is security, but it’s been clear for months that AI is just as important. The odd division out has been Xbox, which hasn’t discussed its use of AI much in public. But that changed last week when Microsoft ripped the band-aid off and waded, somewhat clumsily, into the debate over AI in gaming.
Last Wednesday, Microsoft revealed Muse, its new AI model that can generate gameplay. It was trained on Ninja Theory’s Xbox game Bleeding Edge, and it can understand a 3D world and physics and then respond to players’ interactions. While Muse is a Microsoft Research project at heart, Microsoft presented it in a way that linked it directly to Xbox and the future of the company’s gaming efforts. That has divided opinion between those who argue that Microsoft will use this model to build games and lay off developers, and others who think this is still very early and simply another tool in a game developer’s kit.
I’ve been speaking to game developers over the past week to get a better understanding of the response to Muse. Of the handful I’ve spoken to, no one is willing to speak on the record for reasons like career concerns and the potential impact speaking out might have on game deals with Xbox. Most echo what David Goldfarb, developer and founder of The Outsiders, posted on X last week, “Fuck this shit.”
Goldfarb expanded on that brief response in an interview with Wired. “When we rely on this stuff we are implicitly empowering a class of people who own these tools and don’t give a fuck about how they reshape our lives,” he said.
That’s a concern I’ve heard from multiple game developers: if they accept these AI tools then what happens next? There’s a growing fear in the game industry right now that AI will replace human creators, and it’s not a baseless fear, either.
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