Using AI to make games is a production issue, not one of consumption
About a year ago, Game Maker introduced changes to the way it handles internal timing, which caused huge issues with all of my projects, because all them used the engine's very basic "set game timing to frame rate" setting. Basically, the game's logic and what's being displayed on screen would de-sync within a few seconds and it would get progressively worse.
I think it had something to do with how it was all tied to vertical synchronization and what have you, but I'm not really a programmer in that way. I can make a game, but I can't make an engine.
The way the problem manifested itself, felt like it had to do with vibe-coding. Obviously I don't know for sure, but it didn't feel like something that would happen if an actual human being was involved in its implementation and deployment.
Either way it was fixed a bit later, but considering how, for a while, it was impossible for me to safely update any of my projects, I made the decision to stop updating Game Maker any further. I've been getting more wary of software updates in general and I don't want vibe coding to make things even worse.
Vibe Code seems to be everywhere these days
Most of the tools we use have probably been touched by vibe coding at this point. It's an unfortunate fact of life it seems, that things get progressively worse.
This obviously creates a contradiction: If you're the kind of person who has a dislike for AI Tools and the companies that deploy them, how can you claim that your work is free of evil, if the tool you're using has already been infused by it?
The awful thing about Capitalism is that everything it produces is infused with evil, because it's all the result of exploitation. That's where that phrase "there's no ethical consumption under Capitalism" comes from.
So in that sense, you could make an argument, that it's totally okay if I, as a small time Game Developer, deploy AI tools to make my work a bit easier. After all, it's already everywhere and me not using them and being overly judgemental about others using them isn't really going to affect things.
I've seen this type of argument more and more recently and to be honest, it doesn't sit right with me.
For one, there's the issue of further legitimization. I personally file AI-tools under the same category as I do with crypto-currencies. They are tools deployed by techno-fascists to take further control over our lives. I personally might not affect their proliferation, but the decision itself still carries weight in terms of lending them legitimacy. The more people cave and start to use AI, the more it becomes accepted and the harder it will be to get rid of these companies.
You might tell yourself, that your decision to use them carries no moral weight, because everything is already compromised, but that line of thinking ignores the effect said decision can have on others. It creates further rifts between groups of people, it causes further alienation with those who refuse to use them, and it opens the door to the world's worst people to get a foothold. So while materially it might not seem like there's a difference, there is one on a sociocultural level.
It's the reason why I personally am pretty militant when it comes to this kind of stuff. I'm similar in regards to what apps I'm using on my phone (barely any), or which services I use in my daily life. Your individual resistance against these companies might not matter in the end (it surely looks like it with AI right now), but considering how little power a lot of us have, it's at least something you can do.
The second argument against this position is that I think it's logically flawed. You see, using AI-tools for your game isn't an issue of consumption, it's a production issue. After all, you're not consuming AI-created works, you are using AI to produce a piece of work. If you expand this line of thinking to admittedly fairly absurd levels, you could also say that it's okay for a games company to exploit their workers, because Computers themselves are the result of exploitative labour conditions. As a producer of goods, especially if you make games on your own, you have quite a lot of room to decide how much you actually want to engage in the things that Capitalism does. As long as you have the Capital, you can do whatever you want and choose your own rules. Sure, because larger market forces push companies into a specific (exploitative) mode, it's likely that those that don't will not last, but there's nothing stopping you from doing it anyway.
Obviously that decision too won't solve the core issue, but the same applies to any other kind of alternative mode of production under Capitalism. Co-ops while nice and certainly more desirable, are still subject to the same market pressures as any other capitalist entity. Unions, can only work within the frameworks that are given to them by the state and the contracts that exist between workforce and employer. However, both are important, because they keep the door open to something that isn't the hell we currently live in.
You could actually make an argument that as a producer of games, even if you're just one person, you have a higher moral responsibility, because you actually can make impactful individual decisions about the way you produce your goods.
Using AI in your work is not a morally neutral decision
I have only so much control over the world around me. I can refuse to download Game Maker's most recent updates, but I'm pretty sure there's still a good amount of AI shit in the version I'm using. Almost every platform out there is most likely full of AI-code, because programmers have absolutely no moral backbone. However at some point that chain comes to me and there I can still make a decision. Do I add to the exploitation and continued erosion of human connection and solidarity, or do I try what I can to stop it from going any further?
You as a producer of goods, have the power to decide how far you want to continue that chain of exploitation. That also means obviously that you can decide to just let it continue. However, I don't think that you then can also turn around and say that doing so, is somehow a morally neutral decision.
Keep in mind who benefits the most from your decision in this instance. It's not the people who play your game, it's not your peers who you claim to have solidarity with. It might be you to some degree, but mostly it will be the people who keep funding the continued destruction of the world we live in.
If that's morally neutral to you, then I wish you all the best, but don't claim you didn't know who you sold your soul to.
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