The use of AI in video game development is a hot topic among gamers with a negative sentiment largely held against developers seen to be adopting the technology.

While some developers appear to be getting away with it - Embark's use of AI voice lines in ARC Raiders and The Finals springs to mind - there are some developers doubling down on its use, and Fortnite developer Epic Games is one of them.

As reported by GamesRadar+, Fortnite's senior external development manager, Stephanie Arnette, recently gave her two-cents on AI while speaking at Gamescom Latam. "I know everyone's biggest fear is, 'Oh my god, AI is going to take all our jobs.'," she says.

"That's not our goal. The goal is to make us more efficient."

She goes on to explain that tasks that would have previously taken 10 hours to complete can now be done in a fraction of the time when AI is utilised.

"That's a compelling use case for AI," she says, although she doesn't go into details on the exact sort of tasks Epic Games is looking to speed up with the technology.

Arnette isn't the only game developer who's expressed how AI could be the future of game development. Bethesda's Todd Howard has also said that he doesn't think the tech is a 'fad'.

Speaking on the Kinda Funny Gamescast, Howard said: "We're not fully ignoring it, because where it can help us get better at some big data tasks that just take us a lot of time, that we wish were done now... it helps us move onto the creative stuff."

The worry among gamers is that AI could be seen as a way to replace the more creative side of game development, like the creation of art. Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss recently came under fire for leaving some AI artwork in the game, which it quickly removed with a patch.

There's also the concern that these efficiency games could result in the loss of jobs. It's all well and good saying that AI isn't 'replacing' these jobs as such, but if the work of a three person team can suddenly be completed by one person, it doesn't take a genius to predict where costs will be cut when budgets are assessed.

We're already starting to see some game developers accuse employers of replacing them with AI. Last month, a translator for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 claimed they were let go from Warhorse in favour of an AI translation model.

Although AI wasn't cited as the reason for layoffs, Epic Games did recently let go of roughly 20% of its workforce. It's thought that over 1,000 employees were affected.

Like it or not, though, we are seeing a drastic uptake of AI technologies in game development. A recent survey from GDC found that 36% of studios admitted to using AI in their workflows, although only 13% of respondents claimed the technology was having a positive impact.

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