Inzoi, The Sludge Sim

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Just like I thought, the slow-creep of generative AI into gaming continues. Except this time it marches forward with Krafton’s enthusiastic destruction of the arts with it’s latest and highly anticipated life-sim, InZoi. Thought to be a “Sims killer,” the game launches as an ultra-realistic sim that immediately shoves generative sludge into your face. Because having artists who make designs for clothing in your game is too hard, and having less ways to get involved in game development is definitely the future we’re all rooting for (sarcasm).

Krafton is very open about its pro-AI advocacy – it has a whole section of its website dedicated to its Deep Learning division, which works to use generative AI to “increase game productivity” by generating art, animation, and voices, translating research into real-world tools, creating “Virtual Friends” you can play games with and talk to, virtual influencers that can livestream games, and probably more that isn’t stated on the website.

Quoted from thegamer.com.

Wow, that’s a lot of horrible things to shotgun all at once!

But, don’t worry, they’re only using things people made for free, or work that they’ve already had done for them by actual artists.

“All AI features within InZOI utilize proprietary models developed by Krafton and are trained using solely company-owned and copyright issue-free assets and data,” Suri explains. “In addition, inZOI’s AI capabilities are built into the client as on-device solutions and therefore do not make communications online with external servers.”

Quoted from pcgamesn.com.

As if it somehow makes it seem better, to announce that you’re outsourcing jobs in your company to an algorithmic machine that’s choking the atmosphere, but with things people didn’t ask for money for, or things you’ve already paid actual human beings to make.

Okay, I get it. I’m cynical, and sick-to-death of talking about this. But, all across social media, or, at least, corporate social media, there are endless people thoughtlessly Ghibli-ifying themselves, or clamoring about how great they think it is to use a hallucinating chatbot as a replacement for critical thinking, and now that same brain-drain garbage is leaking into an art form.

I don’t have much hope for the world. I don’t have much hope for art. I lost hope in most people a long time ago.

But, if you’re like me, and you’re sick of this trash, join my club. The Never-AI-in-My-Damn-Games club, and don’t buy this. Don’t buy anything by any developers or studios who’ve decided that having artists isn’t productive enough, or a waste of money.

Let them burn.