In a recent interview, Blizzard candidly joked about the possibility of AI chatbot ChatGPT potentially helping write or provide ideas forWorld of Warcraft’s next expansion. Needless to say, AI chat software won’t be driving futureWorld of Warcraftexpansions creatively just yet. Still, with the rising popularity of AI, it’s no longer a silly question to ask if game developers like Blizzard are considering using the technology to streamline certain areas of content creation.For those unfamiliar,ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chat softwarecan take a prompt and return an elaborate text response. Responses are created based on a training model that uses text databases taken from the internet, including digital libraries of books, articles, and even Wikipedia as source material. ChatGPT specifically uses a “reward model” where humans help fine-tune responses by ranking them by quality. It must be said, however, that ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are known to sometimes respond with factually incorrect information.RELATED:Skyrim Player Uses ChatGPT AI To Generate New QuestsSpeaking with IGN,World of Warcraftgame director Ion Hazzikostasbriefly talked about a funny interaction he had with ChatGPT. He said that as soon as he first got access to the chatbot, he asked it a work-related question. He asked the bot what the nextWorld of Warcraftexpansion should be. According to Hazzikostas, ChatGPT responded that the next expansion should be “Return to the Shadowlands.”
He’d go on to say that he feels like he has “pretty good job security” as a result and that ChatGPT isn’t coming for his job anytime soon. TheShadowlandsexpansion forWorld of Warcrafthas been criticizedas one of the MMO’s worst, which makes Hazzikostas' response all the more hilarious.
While Hazzikostas makes light of the growing popularity of chatbots like ChatGPT, he and Blizzard are apparently no stranger to AI being used for game development. He notes that some machine learning is used for “automating really arduous, painful” art tasks. He mentions fitting helmets around Blood Elf Ears and similar tasks. These are jobs that need to be done, but Hazzikostas would preferWorld of Warcraftartists focus their time on other tasks.
The team at Blizzard also isn’t shying away from AI being used in new ways in the future.World of Warcraftexecutive producer Holly Longdale notes that an “evolution in AI is certainly going to help us,” noting that “it’s always been here.” Neither Hazzikostas' nor Longdale’s responses will assuage worries thatAI could lead to game developers losing jobsin the relatively near future, unfortunately. That’s a question that likely won’t be answered publicly.
World of Warcraftis available now on PC.
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