r/videogames • u/Beautiful_Public4668 • 21h ago
Discussion / Question Hope about the future regarding AI
I feel crazy but i have hope that AI slop will die in the future without any government intervention. Right now vibe coded AI slop video games are easy and cheap to produce because a lot of the compute needed to write code or generate images are subsidised by the invesment capital to fuel the AI bubble, but once it bursts it should be much more ecpensive and slow to make cheap clones. I just dont see the same hope in other discussions only despair so am i crazy to be hopeful?
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u/Infamous-Echo-2961 21h ago
Couldn’t agree more
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u/WofferFang 21h ago
AI bubble WILL burst. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. The desperation is already all over the slop section and they're running low on funds, with a few of the larger sites already filing for bankrupcy.
Filters WILL be a thing. Slop is all about overloading you with quantity, zero quality.
Now, will the bubble burst stop it? By a lot, yes. There will probably still be idiots using it as a rip-off tool, just like they're still using NFTs and all that. But if the data centers shut down and get repurposed/demolished, it's gonna be harder for them to do anything. On top of that, it's gonna get regulated. Japan already made voices illegal without permission, and banned anyone from using dead actor voices. It's gonna spread sooner or later, and step by step it'll all crumble.
Just hang in there and avoid slop, or at the very least, games with slop assets (art, music, sounds, writing, that sort of thing). It's hard to detect AI code without the invisible watermarks, but yeah. If it comes to it, that's gonna be an easy way to filter it out on the store fronts.
Personally? I'm not worried. Yes, things are rough right now, the roughest it's been when it comes to that. But it's gonna get better. Lots of people don't like AI, and at the very least, even the common customer absolutely despises AI art and music. People turning away from restaruants openly using slop menus, etc. are the proof. It's getting to the point where even the common schmuck can recognize slop assets, so yeah.
I know some AI shithead's gonna try to lie about how Japan loves it, but again, Japan made the "only with permission" a thing. I know they're gonna lie about common customers not caring, but once more, they're turning away from it. Only the super old people "don't care" because they don't know better. And like, I'm not exactly young, and I see a lot of people my generation turning away from it too, so yeah. You cannot lie to my face. Don't bother if you're just gonna respond with that nonsense, alright.
Also, one thing to keep in mind: Creatives want to create. That will never stop. If it comes down to it, the future's in the hands of people who will make their own works, just as the heads of Konami and now even Sony are saying. "The future is in the hands of human creators". So don't let it get to you.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 21h ago edited 20h ago
Well i feel relieved i am not the only one with this mentality
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u/Makoto_Kurume 21h ago
I'm a filthy casual and only play popular games, so AI slop games aren't a problem for me. I just never touch that shit.
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u/LOA_Specialist 21h ago
Aren't popular games more at risk than indie games?
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u/Makoto_Kurume 21h ago
Maybe, but I'm not concerned about it. Good games will still be made, even if there are fewer of them or whatever. I can only game for 2 hours a day, and there are plenty of games I haven't played yet, so I'm not worried at all.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 21h ago
Yeah but it still hurts the industry as a whole if anybodys project can be instantly copied and cloned.
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u/Makoto_Kurume 21h ago
Maybe, but I can't do anything about it, so there's no point worrying. I'll just enjoy playing games
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 21h ago
Yeah and my post is about being hopeful for the future, i know i cant do anuthing rn too. So whats your idea of the future
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u/RIXIC007 19h ago
The future for gaming with AI is great, it makes games able to be deved, tested and out to the user way faster than previously possible
Of course some downsides come with the benefits but gaming as a whole benefits from a consumer standpoint... then in other ways like high prices are the tradeoffs.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 19h ago
Nobody wants mass produced soulless shit
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u/RIXIC007 18h ago
thats only what GENERATIVE ai does,
not AI used to maintenance, enhance or aide in dev cycles.
Yall are so fucking ignorant on this topic yet hate ai is so telling.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 18h ago
Did you read my post and think i was talking about any other kind of ai?
Do you have reading comprehension?
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u/RIXIC007 18h ago
Yes and you conflated many types of AI and all lumped it together as "slop" go actually do research on how various companies use AI in the dev process and maybe you wouldnt sound so uninformed.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 18h ago
No i did not. I am focused on gen AI as it mass produces clones that make a market place unusable to find any actual product. So yes i hat that slop
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u/Makoto_Kurume 21h ago
The future? Idk, I'll think about it when I'm done playing all the games I haven't played yet.
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u/HeavyHighway6433 19h ago
The AI bubble bursting doesn't mean AI is going to end or slow down, just like the dotcom bubble bursting didn't impact the internet. All that's going to happen is most of the companies that invested heavily into proving services to the public are going to go under without any bailout. A few key players will remain (likely big names like Google, Microsoft, Meta, etc). AI itself as a technology has been around and been improved upon for the last 60 years. LLMs are just the latest big advancement.
As for games no longer being vibe coded, hate to break it to you but that's not going anywhere. It doesn't take that much compute for a prompt to spit out some code. You can run models locally on your own infrastructure, that's what my job does. You can also train your own AI models if you want to cut the middle men out. These large data centers aren't really necessary for AI to function as a whole.
All that said, I'm 100% sure most AAA game developers and even indie devs use AI to wite code. That one guy at Xbox already let the cat out of the bag that the studios there do it. Even Steam revised it's AI disclosure policy to exclude using AI for productivity and only requires it for live generation of assets and dialog. So yeah your take is a bit too hopeful imo.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 19h ago
It does mean ai spending slowing down thats literally what the bubble bursting means by defination. AI being used as a tool is fine but many ppl are using it just to churn out insane amount of copy paste slop which would obviously discourage anyone from making games because why spend time making games if someone else copies your hard work and takes away your revenue
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u/HeavyHighway6433 18h ago
Right now the majority of "AI spending" is buying up components to fill data center racks to meet up with the artifical demand that they may or may not need to meet in the future. That will slow down if/when the bubble burst, and many AI companies that exist to provide a service to the public will end up going out of business. AI research and development itself isnt going to slow down though, nor will the use as like I said it really doesn't require large data centers.
To your point about churning out slop, that's valid but really that's already been happening for a while. A lot of indie devs have been filling up stores with super short easily made game for quick cash grabs prior to AI . I remember Playstation having to step in to put an end to it a while back. AI will make that worse no doubt but at the end of the day a bad game is a bad game. Good creative games will always stand out.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 18h ago
Its just that like with Needle in a haystack Simulator, it has gotten so many AI clones that the original game is near impossible to search if you dont know exactly what you are looking for (i am not sure if i used the name correctly). With this environment why would anyone make games if their ideas and execution gets stolen and mass produced within days. In the before times this shit would still takes months to churn out, so you wouldve made most of your sales and made established yourself more easily.
Its that, plus whatever the fuck the law about ip and copyright is going through rn is making this hard to make sense of things lately. This might work out better if AI also solves the problems it creates by being a better moderator and enforcer.
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u/HeavyHighway6433 10h ago
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5159870/Needle_In_A_Haystack_Simulator/
First thing that popped up in Google. But I agree using it to make clones is messed up, but this is more of a problem with people than AI itself. Ideas have been taken for millennia which is why we need ip and copyright laws in the first place. On the other hand there's also been a big problem with enforcement when it comes to someone in another country that's more lax like China doing it. Mobile industry has been going though that for years, although more so taking established characters than entire games. It should be on the platform to take these down.
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u/bramm90 21h ago
Moore's Law states that even a 10x in price will be wiped out due to more compute in about 4 years. Means of production will be only more attainable.
Here's a thought though: don't play cheap clones
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 21h ago
Mon ami this isnt me trying to play slop, i was hoping to get into gamedev but if AI slop literally prevents ppl from discovering your game or it allows anyone to copy your game without effort then making games becomes an useless endevour.
Moore's law does predict that amount of transistors double annually, but still the cost of production and ai model training should be high enough to not make it feasable for long run. Well i hope anyway i could be wrong but just means no new games
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u/bramm90 18h ago
The cat's out of the bag, cheap clones are now a fixed part of the ecosystem. Inference will only become cheaper, just like the dotcom bubble bursting only temporarily slowed down the web.
I still have plenty of reason to be hopeful though. IP legislation will likely increase to protect creators, either on platforms (Steam, Playstation) or governmental.
It will get worse before it gets better, but I don't really fear for gaming as a whole. It will probably end up having the same relatively marginal effect as piracy.
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u/AfraidRun8226 21h ago
Without any government intervention is pushing it, but
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 20h ago
They got bros ass
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u/AfraidRun8226 19h ago
lil guy if u think this shit is going away without regulation I’ve got about a hundred years of business malpractice history to teach u and a bridge to sell on top of it
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 19h ago edited 19h ago
If you think the gov will regulate ai instead if using it to just create more unequality i have a skyscraper to sell you
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u/AfraidRun8226 19h ago
your inability to spell skyscraper is in line with your bizarre implication that government regulation doesn’t exist. crack a book sometime, I’m hardly a centralist but yes the government could be pushed to regulate AI if we didn’t have the stupidest man on the planet in charge
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 18h ago
Damn bro forgetting a r and a c makes me a dumbass huh?
As for regulation literally look at the US or any other country RIGHT NOW. Children are committing sucide, misinformation is spreading at an alarming rate, medical misinformation especially. LLMs are literally commit copyright infringement, mass cyberattacks are made possible with AI. Apparently houthis use claude to design their drones. Yet no regulation has come even when so much blood jas already been spilt.
So when do you want the skyscraper?
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u/AfraidRun8226 18h ago
Dude there’s like seven huge AI bills being pushed by the left in the US. Nihilistic dipshits like you are exactly how we get into the political circumstances we’re in. Stop bitching on Reddit and get involved. “The government won’t do anything!” Is such defeatist, crybaby, lazy, loser horseshit
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 18h ago
Bills being passed means jack shit when law as a concept doesnt exist in USA.
If you got a problem to solve, solve it French style really
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u/XVII_numerus 20h ago
You guys, if it hasent burst by this point, then I'm sorry to say it's unlikely it will burst. So instead of waiting for an unknown outcome, how about we focus on making good games and talking more about those games.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 20h ago
Mf not a single AI company is even close to profitability so sybau, even the dot com bubble didnt burst instantly
And why make good games when a braindead schmuck can a make a 1 to 1 clone in less than 10 minutes?
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u/XVII_numerus 11h ago
I'm in the AI space and I'm telling you, you are being delusional. It's not going to burst that's just the fact of it. There is way too much money running through this machine. Your welcome to wait but I'm telling you mate, you are completely wasting your time.
Yes there are brain dead idiots who won't know the difference but there are just as many people who know the difference and there are a certain section of people who fucking hate it.
AI isn't ever going away. It's a Pandora's box type of situation. That's just the truth of it
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u/MapZealousideal7489 21h ago edited 21h ago
I'll be honest. Don't know why people care so much about if there is AI slop in games or anything else.
For starters, who cares what others enjoy?
Next up, at least with AI game slop, pretty much no one plays them, so there's no need to worry about it. Though if AI gets better in the future and makes good games, then there may be issues.
Ai is a trend, sure it will never go away. But alot of the "Wow look what it can do!" dies off pretty quick. Everyone and their mom was making AI pics, then it slowed down. Then they did with the music, and it slowed down. The new trend is "Combine two games together!" In a few months time, most won't care anymore.
Again, I'm a realist and I don't think AI can be put back the bottle. But I do think more regulations and rules will come. Heck, many have already made new rules.
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I will say, it is interesting how annoyed AI games are, and yet we seem to forget its becoming annoying how bad non-AI games all to often. AAA titles with endless launch issues. "Early Access" games that never get released and have major bugs. Indie slop that is clones of other stuff. I know AI slop is on another level, but still.
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u/Beautiful_Public4668 21h ago
Thisnt about what ppl enjoy or not enjoy but about rewarding creativity. If someone talented makes a good game but after sharing a demo a bajilion copies are emerging due to AI then nobody would work in the gaming space because why bother when everyone makes a cheap copy instantly. AI probably isnt being put back in bottle but i just want less slop really. I am sure talented artists could still use AI productively if prices increase, but slop factories would shut down and thats my hope
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u/MapZealousideal7489 21h ago
Well even the best games are impossible for AI to recreate their own version of. People give AI way to much credit. Even those " Combine two games" things, it's not what people think.
I'd also argue every new tech had "slop" at first. Eventually the slop goes away. I think the one exception is consumer goods. Because of cheap knock off places like in China, "slop" aka cheap garbage is common. Looking at you Temu.
"compute gets cheaper after the bubble," but that's not really what's keeping the factories alive. Those things run on cheap credit and the expectation of growth, not on per token pricing. When the funding dries up, the "spam 50 games and see what sticks" model dies even if inference is basically free.
"norms are already set, damage is done" well that cuts both ways really. Sure the boom teaches people copying is instant. But it also teaches players to hate it. You're already seeing "no AI" tags, curators blacklisting stuff, people review bombing it. Though I seen a game recently that was AI slop and actually really good, can't recall the name though.
"just own the slop, it's the price of access". I don't know, it basically admits the output is mostly bad and asks people to shrug. Way easier sell is "the tool's good, this flood is a bubble thing, the correction will show what's actually worth keeping." That's a pro AI position normal people can actually get behind.
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u/WofferFang 21h ago
The mashup games also contain malware. "Self replicating agents" are literally what a computer worm is. Food for thought.
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u/MapZealousideal7489 20h ago
I mean, it is by definition a computer worm, but it's not malware or some sort of virus. Thats why it matters more what it does then anything else. Also, at least from what I seen, anyone can do this using various AI tools, so its not like there is someone spreading some special program to do this, that would be more suspicious./
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u/WofferFang 20h ago
It going through my files and trying to change them is malware. lol
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u/MapZealousideal7489 20h ago
I mean software accessing or modifying files doesn't automatically make it malware. Games, mod managers, and plenty of legitimate programs do that. The question is whether it's doing something malicious or unauthorized. All those peopel using DLSS 5, its adding LOTS of files to their PC. None of which are harmful.
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u/WofferFang 20h ago
No proper software's gonna try and mess with location settings (which I have off) and accessing system files. Sorry, but you're really not convincing me all the slop isn't just viruses and harmful stuff. So yeah nope. End of this.
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u/MapZealousideal7489 19h ago
First, it's still on you to prove it's a virus. You haven't. Especially since you don't seem to know the difference between a virus causing harm and something doing good.
"Accessing system files" and "checking location" aren't the same thing as "being a virus". Your browser reads and writes files. Steam touches your filesystem. Antivirus software reads everything.
"end of this" is doing the work of a rebuttal you didn't make.
More importantly, if you think anything that changes your stuff and does stuff is a virus and refuse to touch it. I assume that means you also don't use
Any internet browser, reads and writes files, tracks location (if permitted), phones home constantly, and runs arbitrary thirdparty code from the internet.
Steam or any launcher reads your filesystem, inventories installed software, runs in the background, auto-updates itself, and reports telemetry.
Discord, always on, reads running processes (for game detection), accesses mic, files, and network.
Phone apps , weather, banking, maps, social, all request location and storage and network.
Smart TV/console/streaming stick, always connected, reports viewing data, updates itself.
So you don't use those right?
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u/WofferFang 18h ago
I know what a virus does. If I get strange behavior on my machine, that's not a good thing. So yes, "end of this". AI = viruses and malware in disguise.
I know how that stuff works and it's not the same as browsers or Steam. Reading files is different than trying to alter them and bypass security. I don't allow Steam to just crawl all over my private files like this stuff's trying. It's doing that stuff for itself, but it does leave my stuff alone.
THAT is the difference here. So yes, end of this, as I said. Muted.
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u/TamedBeard 21h ago
There are a few worries. The current American administration is incredibly horny for AI. It wouldn't surprise me if we enter a Too Big To Fail argument like we did in the 2008 financial crisis.
I'm hoping that the AI slop market will die from lack of oxygen. Crap piled high and sold cheap isn't new. We had asset flips before AI went mental, but invariably they evaporate, and interesting and original games rise to the top. Sadly gems also get buried every day too, but that's been true for some time now.