Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Controversial AI Use Is Even Attracting Attention of US Politicians

As usual, Congressman Khanna is right. There does need to be something standing in the way of mass job displacement or eventually every job that can be replaced with AI will be instead of AI being a useful tool to increase productivity of those jobs.

Reminds me of the firemen of British Rail in the 70s. Due to replacement of steam engines with diesel and electric locomotives, firemen lost their task. But the workers union made a deal: They got their salaries for a few more years, but they had to sit in the locomotive doing nothing.

Not going to happen. Trump and Vance are in bed with the tech bros like no other presidential duo before them. So much so that they reversed most of what Biden put in place to safeguard AI.

These games generate more than enough money yearly to pay employees properly to do the work they'd rather offload onto AI, it's nothing more than greed.

@LifeGirl Exactly, US of A won't backdown with AI. The exact opposite.It's their long term power play against the world.

@The_Wailing_Doom I don’t really understand why. Other jobs have disappeared in the past as well because of the rise of technology. You can’t stop this and neither can (or should) you restrict commercial companies from making decisions based on making profit.

I do believe this current situation is way more widespread though and most of us will lose their jobs in the next 5-10 years. That doesn’t mean you can stop this though. Governments could better start making preparations for these unstoppable developments. Yet when I watch all the media surrounding the elections we had in the Netherlands a few weeks ago the topic isn’t even on the table.

@Darude84 I think a lot of the backlash is that previously, technology reduced the need for labourers doing mundane jobs such as farming and building. It's depressing when it takes away jobs that are meant to have a creative human element to them.

but only gameplay matters ….

@ThroughTheIris56 I agree that it’s a shame. Arts will probably still have a big function in society in the long run, but not as something to earn your money with.

@Darude84
Indeed. It is a much bigger threat. You did have technological developments in the past that would displace jobs, but, until AI, there hasn't been a technological development that could displace almost all the jobs that don't require physicality (though that will happen eventually, too).
Technological displacement is not a new thing, but at this wide scale, it is.

@nomither6 Clearly you are missing the point...

I’m no CoD fan (especially when the campaign is apparently awful) but if this game somehow becomes the catalyst to get ai regulated into submission, it’ll become one of my favorite games of all time.

This is actually concerning and while it can be considered "small scale" occurrence, the speed of which jobs and jobs in the IT niche will be taken is scary. There does needs to be some sort of barrier to help keep these jobs.

If they're going to cheap out and use AI slop, they should at least slash the MSRP.

@Darude84 To be honest, I don't think AI "art" is really a threat to artists. AI will threaten a lot of roles, but supposed artistry is extremely noticeable when fed to a generator. Good artists will always far outperform AI, because there are scores (if not myriad) nuances that are typically noticeable.

AI is, sadly, not going anywhere, any time soon, so I think as these issues keep coming up, regulation will most likely come into play. Labor/creator issues are obviously very tightly entangled with this, and that might be the tipping point as that friction increases. It might also be some huge misinformation campaign that does it.

@Summer235 Trump could cure cancer and it wouldn't be enough to quell the outrage screechers online

@Mythologue Well, this article seems to prove otherwise.

Btw, is that the White Pony horse in your avatar? Talking about art.

@somnambulance I’m very afraid of this as well. Eventually a new economic system will be figured out (the one we have is relatively new still), but the road leading there will be very bumpy. I read that “we” (I’m from the Netherlands) are the most cynical nation in our reaction to AI. You see this everywhere; all developments are laughed at. I’m very afraid the shock will be even bigger when “all of a sudden” many people will lose their jobs and starter functions won’t be available anymore.

People tend to do strange things when they feel uncomfortable and rapid change will trigger it.

@Darude84 It doesn't really. It proves that a controversial franchise is utilising AI for art. That's the farthest thing from proving that AI surpasses human art. I would argue it's the polar opposite, in fact; a heavily criticised franchise is the most recent example of generating "art," rather than creating art.

Also, yes. It certainly is.

I'll never understand the issue with using AI - its not as if the Art is being Sold as 'art' - its some throwaway content in a game that will be replaced in a year with yet another iteration. It was never intended to be 'displayed' in an Art Museum, its a 'token' for completing a challenge or ranking up, they are 'free' extras generated to bulk out the content and be a bit more aesthetically interesting than 'nothing'.

You aren't paying for a 'Game' and all its Art/Assets - they are owned by the Publisher/Developer anyway. You are paying for the right to access and enjoy their software in your home instead of going to an Arcade and paying for everytime you want to play a 'match', like paying to go and watch a Movie or paying for a 'pass' at Disneyland to go 'anywhere', go on the rides, have the Disney experience.

Point is, you aren't buying Art or the Game, you are paying to experience their Game. I'd rather have AI art than no Art and its not as if I'm going to want Prints to hang on my wall as 'Art'. I have no issue at all with Humans using Tools to make their jobs easier/quicker etc and see AI as no different from a CNC machine that replaces 'skilled' artists/craftsmen from doing 'repetitive' boring work to mass produce in quantity and much, much quicker and far loss costly too.

I still think a Human has to be in control of the tool and have the final say on whether the product is acceptable. I don't have an issue with the AI drawing 6 fingers instead of 5, I have more of an issue with the Human who either controlled the AI or approved the resulting product. Its not the AI's fault, its the person who used the AI tool, the person that chose to use that creation instead of amending, correcting or selecting a different option.

AI is just a 'tool' - driven by Humans and Humans have the final say on whether or not, what the AI has produced was acceptable for their game. Its 'human error' as far as I am concerned if 'bad' Art (regardless of whether it was AI or Human created) gets into a game - a Human should use their own eyes, judgement etc to decide whether or not that 'art' is acceptable - just like we as Humans will decide if we think their 'Game' is worth paying for, waiting for a sale or just not worth their time at all - even if FREE to play through some service or whatever.

I buy guitars made by CNC machines that 80yrs ago would have been made by skilled woodworkers or at the very least, trained machine operators (trained to use the various Power Tools that made production a Lot faster and/or reduced workers - before Powered Machines/Robots replaced them). Now a Single Person running a CNC machine can make hundreds of identical Guitar bodies every week where before it would take 30+ to make that many. Quality is arguably better and much more consistent too for the cost (which includes time/wages) - as a Human to make 20 different Emblems, Calling Cards etc and see how long that takes and how much it costs if you also want to see Drafts for approval, make amendments etc...

AI is coming. People can piss into the wind as much as they want. I'm going to enjoy the crying.

"His stance isn't wholly against AI, but that it needs some form of regulating to protect workers from 'excessive automation'."

And this is why China will take over, they simply do not care about protecting workers as long as they can make more, can make it cheaper and still have the same or better quality.

There's a reason why we are banning shipping AI chips to China, and its because if they get hold of that tech there's no stopping them.

I don’t trust the government much but happily its intervention doesn’t seem to be necessary since the market is speaking and CoD sales are trending well below those of its predecessor

CoD is huge and has been for a long time but nothing is indestructible. Slop (not just AI slop but slop in general) has damaged the sales of a lot of once huge franchises. I don’t think the average gamer cares much about AI (nods towards Arc Raiders) but design decisions that negatively impact their experiences drive gamers away.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/christopher-dring-call-of-duty-black-ops-7-had-a-smaller-uk-retail-physical-launch-than-battlefield-6-61-down-when-compared-to-black-ops-6.1356259/

Anything to get noticed, don’t get it twisted, they aren’t being genuine. Whatever is hot is hot, doesn’t matter to them so long as it gets them to where they’re trying to go.