Following Jurassic World Evolution 3’s unveiling earlier this month, there was some excitement over the fact players will finally be able to baby dinosaurs wandering all over the place come its arrival later this year, but less enthusiasm for Frontier Developments’ decision to whip the theme park sim’s scientist avatar art into existence using generative AI. But now, the studio has confirmed its reversing course on the latter after “some initial feedback”.
Word Frontier would be relying on generative AI to create its boffins first emerged via Jurassic World Evolution 3’s Steam page, which, alongside its modest system requirements, included the AI disclosure statement – as mandated by Valve – that “Scientists’ avatars” would be conjured into existence using the controversial technology. This, seemingly, referred to the face portraits accompanying employable staff – rather than key characters – throughout the game.
Some fans have dismissed concerns around the use of generative AI by pointing out the fact scientist avatars are a fairly minor element of Jurassic World Evolution 3, and there’ve been suggestions the game’s 2021 predecessor made similar use of the technology – albeit before Steam’s mandatory disclosure rule came into play. But the pushback among the community has been significant enough that Frontier has taken note and ditched its AI usage.
It shared the news on the game’s Steam forum, but a longer statement was provided to Game Watcher. “We have removed the use of generative AI for scientists portraits in Jurassic World Evolution 3 following some initial feedback,” Frontier wrote. “The team are continuing their diligent work on the game and are very much looking forward to launching on 21st October.”
Frontier, of course, is far from the only developer to have dabbled with generative AI, and far from the only one to have faced criticism for doing so. Activision was accused of creating “AI slop” by Call of Duty fans after AI-generated art was used in promotional material for the billion dollar franchise, including a Santa zombie crafted with so little artistic regard, apparently nobody had noticed it had six fingers. Microsoft also recently drew criticism after releasing an AI generated playable (in the loosest sense of the word) demo “inspired” by Quake 2.
For all the controversy, though, it’s clear AI is changing game development forever, and numerous companies, including Ubisoft and Take-Two, have discussed exploring generative AI “tools”. Nintendo’s Doug Bowser recently addressed the technology too, acknowledging its potential to “enhance productivity”, while added, “There’s always, always going to be a human touch, and a human engagement in how we develop and build our games.”