SEGA to 'proceed carefully' with AI use, admits gen AI faces 'strong resistance' from creatives

SEGA is exploring the use of AI in game development to help optimize and streamline workflows, but the company may not be ready to commit to generative AI just yet.

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Gen AI is here, and games companies are using it in the hopes of reducing costs. Ubisoft, for example, is gung-ho about the new tech, with CEO Yves Guillemot hailing it as the next major revolution after 3D graphics. EA is also using gen AI in its experimental ChatGPT-like prompts, and Microsoft has provided tools like inWorld's gen AI and its own in-house CoPilot to its game developers. Then we have Krafton, the owners of PUBG, saying that they are now an AI-first company.

SEGA, on the other hand, isn't fully committing to AI just yet...generative or otherwise. In a recent Q&A with investors, SEGA's leadership says AI could offer efficiencies but they also recognize that the technology faces staunch push-back from creatives. Their approach is one of caution, and rightly so, considering SEGA relies strongly on outsourced content production from third-party "work-for-hire" groups. Rocking the boat and antagonizing your workforce is never a good idea, and becomes a much worse prospect when those workers are fickle creatives.

Below we have the quick excerpt from the Q&A with SEGA's execs on the topic of AI use:

Q. Game development scales are trending larger. Will you follow this trend toward larger projects, or pursue efficiency?

A. Rather than fully following the trend toward the large-scale development, we will also pursue efficiency improvements, such as leveraging AI. However, as AI adoption can face strong resistance in creative areas such as character creation, we will proceed by carefully assessing appropriate use cases, such as streamlining development.