Of the 500+ AI tools tested by a leading game dev tech provider, only ‘half a dozen’ help ‘in the right way’

While many game studios have started using AI tools for development, the vast majority aren’t helpful enough.

That’s according to Jon Gibson, the head of transformation at Keywords Studios, a leading tech and creative solutions provider for the games industry.

Based in Ireland, Keywords Studios was founded in 1998 and has provided tech and support on such titles as Dune Awakening, Marvel Rivals, Still Wakes the Deep, Alan Wake Remastered, Dead Island 2 and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

In a new interview with The Game Business, Gibson said that of the more than 500 AI game development tools tested by Keywords for their suitability, only around six of them have been truly useful.

“There’s a lot of garbage out there,” Gibson said. “We do a lot of R&D within Keywords. We tested about 500 different AI tools on some of the R&D projects we’ve done, and there’s about half a dozen that we feel complement development in the right way.”

He explained that in its current state, most AI tools are being made based on what they do, rather than what specific problems with game development they can actually solve, resulting in tools that could do something “cool”, but ultimately useless.

“AI feels like it’s in the chaos phase right now,” he explained, “and we need to move to the usable phase. How do we use AI in live production environments? How do we use AI in a way where it complements teams rather than potentially threatens teams? And also how do we use it in a context where it’s governed, it’s controlled, it’s IP safe, it’s legally safe, it’s ethically and morally safe?

“The gulf between cool AI demos where you put in a prompt and you get something amazing, to actually AI in production where you get consistent, high-quality results steered and directed by humans, is quite a big leap.”

He added: “A lot of people focus on what’s cool. They focus on the tool itself or the model itself, rather than what they’re trying to do. A company will use a tool or build a tool without a specific use case and try and cram it into their production pipelines, rather than flipping that problem around and saying ‘what are our pain points, what are we trying to solve’, and then building a tool against that.”

Gibson also noted that in the latest GDC State of the Industry report, 90% of developers who were surveyed said they were using AI in development, but 52% don’t approve of the use of AI.

“So 90% use AI, but 52% think it’s a bad thing,” he summarised. “There’s something missing there. And I think not having controls and governance around AI is part of that issue. A lot of companies are not really explaining to their people why they’re using AI, and why it’s a good thing, and what the strategy is. They’re going into using AI models without that clarity. And it concerns developers.”