Update []:
The Alters developer 11 Bit Studios has put out a long, sprawling statement explaining its stance on generative AI.
It confirms that a object within the game, intended as a “background texture”, does indeed incorporate text from a large language model (LLM), as erroneously included by a graphic designer.
The studio says this was originally intended to be a placeholder, but made its way into the final product. It says it’s isolated the issue, conducted a thorough review, and will be updating the graphic as soon as possible.
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It’s also addressed the issue of some text in the Brazilian Portuguese subtitles, which appear to have been translated using AI:
“A few licensed movies that the alters can watch in the social area of the base were added at the final stage of development. While those were externally produced, our team was not involved in the creative process, and these required additional last-minute translations. Due to extreme time constraints, we chose not to involve our translation partners and had these videos localized using AI to have them ready on launch. It was always our intention to involve our trusted translation agencies after release as part of our localisation hotfix, to ensure those texts would be handled with the same care and quality as the rest of the game. That process is now underway, and updated translations are being implemented.”
The studio further explains that about 0.3% of the text in the game utilised AI translation, but acknowledges it “made the wrong call” and “should have simply let players know”. As above, the error will be patched out as soon as possible.
The developer concluded:
“As AI tools evolve, they present new challenges and opportunities in game development. We’re actively adapting our internal processes to meet this reality. But above all, we remain committed to transparency in how we make our games. We appreciate your understanding and continued support as we work towards that goal.”
Do you think this is a good enough response?
Original Story: The Alters dev 11 Bit Studios probably would have got away with its blatant inclusion of generative AI, if it didn’t accidentally leave in a text string confirming its use of ChatGPT.
This weekend, fans unloaded on the Polish studio for failing to disclose its use of a large language model (LLM) in the acclaimed sci-fi outing, despite the evidence being pretty strong.
In some flavour text spotted in the title, a sentence accidentally included in the release intimates the use of generative AI: “Sure, here's a revised version focusing purely on scientific and astronomical data,” it reads, before going on to include paragraphs of mumbo-jumbo.
The text here is clearly not intended to be actually read, and exists just to add flavour to the universe. But many feel the use of generative AI in this context takes away from the hand-crafted nature of the title. It should be stressed that most game developers are looking at ways this technology can be used to speed up production.