If Elon Musk will be remembered for one innovation, it’ll likely be his ability to keep hope alive for fans and investors in spite of his ongoing track record. The world’s richest man is now promising that he’ll be at the forefront of progress in the video game industry, where his nascent studio is aiming to create a “great” AI-generated experience.
Musk made the declaration in a quote on his social media site X, in response to a user sharing an AI-generated video by Grok, the entrepreneur’s artificial intelligence technology. Though it is short, the video appears to be loosely based on games like Battlefield 6. In it, a soldier can be seen trailing a tank down a combat-riddled street, occasionally shooting bullets at a non-existent target. The video is impressive at first glance thanks to its realistic graphics. But oddities are obvious almost immediately, from the way the soldier seems to be skating down the road to the delayed bullet shells, or the sudden appearance of an enemy tank.
Now, what Musk is responding to here is merely a video, not a playable experience. But his company, xAI does appear to be pursuing game development of some sort. As spotted by IGN, xAI is currently hiring what it calls a “video game tutor” who is meant to train Grok in the world of video games. The tutor will be paid somewhere between $45 and $100 an hour. The job description doesn’t sound creative as much as it sounds administrative. Here’s part of the posting:
You will use proprietary software to provide labels, annotations, and inputs on projects involving game mechanics, narratives, and design elements. You must support the delivery of high-quality curated data that enhances AI’s understanding of gaming principles and outputs. In this effort, you will collaborate with technical staff to develop tasks that improve AI’s ability to generate and refine video game content. You’ll also work with technical staff to improve annotation tools for efficient workflows.
The same listing also notes that the team at xAI is small but motivated. That small team will somehow theoretically compete with the studios working on similar franchises, like Call of Duty or Battlefield, which are the products of thousands of individual workers. Granted, AI is often pitched as a means for efficiency, which could theoretically downsize the need for such enormous game development teams. But many major studios are already exploring AI technology, and they still need a small army to produce AAA games. One could even argue that it is exactly that excess, scope, and price that defines what a modern blockbuster game is.
So far, many of those exploratory attempts have been as controversial as they have been erratic. Companies like Ubisoft and Nvidia have explored AI-generated dialogue, which, while functional, is still eerily uncanny. Other attempts, like Epic Games’ AI-powered Darth Vader, show promise in their versatility to respond to player input… most of the time. Even with programmed guardrails, fans were able to get Darth Vader to do all sorts of things, like repeat slurs.
The path to this mythical AI-generated future will also likely be paved by landfills of slop, as evidenced by all the questionable games that have been filling up digital stores of late. Then there’s the environmental factor to consider: Do we really want to waste our limited fresh water on the most lifeless games imaginable?
Even placing aside the moral and environmental factors, part of the skepticism around AI usage in the gaming industry stems from the fact that the medium does not, in any way, lack technological capacity. Arguably, it’s the only thing new consoles can promise with certainty: This hardware will be more capable than what you’ve played before. Despite that, the world of AAA games only grows bleaker as gaming studios take fewer chances and publishers resort to more layoffs.
Larian Studios’ publishing director Michael “Cromwelp” Douse nailed it completely in a post responding to Musk’s grand claim when he says, “AI has its place as a tool, but we have all the tools in the world and they aren’t compensating for the incredible lack of cogent direction … there is no craft without the human touch; the relative skill issue, or ‘the exhibition of otherness.’ To turn games into digital, emotionless content is to abandon all resonance.”
Still, the encroaching threat of AI does not seem to be slowing down in the gaming industry. New AI tech, like OpenAI’s Sora, makes it easier for every “ideas guy” to vie for a future where their game development genius is merely one correct prompt away. AI-generated videos based on games that look incredible are flashy enough to erode more practical concerns, like how do you make a multi-hour experience from something that only looks good in snippets? Or are we simply moving toward a future where the public makes peace with the rough edges? AI-generated videos are already abundant on apps like TikTok and Facebook, and they garner millions of views despite glaring flaws, simplistic narratives, and generic aesthetics.
Whatever the case, Elon Musk has been beating this drum for a while now. Musk proclaimed that his studio would “make games great again” in 2024. A year later, the world is still waiting.
