The Witcher 4 free of gen AI, at least for now. CD Projekt talks about use of such technologies in games
CD Projekt is exploring the use of AI, but not necessarily a generative form, and definitely not in The Witcher 4 and other projects currently in development.
The Witcher 4 will not use "creative" AI until CD Projekt is confident about copyright matters.
In recent years, technology—at least from the perspective of the average internet user—has been dominated by artificial intelligence. This includes everything from funny and increasingly sophisticated images to a growing number of chatbots and short videos. Of course, the "meme-like" applications are merely the tip of the iceberg, as there is growing discussion about using gen AI in the gaming industry, which worries many people.
Of course, devs cannot, as the critics of "creative" AI would like, completely distance themselves from this issue. Particularly as the major market players are carefully watching the progress of this technology and testing it (despite the results not being very impressive yet), and the company's investors are asking about AI.
Troublesome AI
Up to now, the CD Projekt Group's position on this matter has been: AI can improve "development processes," but it won't replace humans. This is what Adam Badowski, one of the two company heads, said in January 2024. Now, together with joint CEO Michal Nowakowski, he revisited this issue during the review of the Group's financial results for the last fiscal year (via PC Gamer).
CDP has already formed a team to investigate the potential use of AI in the Polish developer's future projects, which involves the possible development of their own AI algorithms/models, customized for the studio's requirements.
These projects don't necessarily focus on generative artificial intelligence. Badowski underlined that the use of "creative" AI can be problematic for many reasons, including copyright issues. That's why, for now, "nothing is happening" in terms of harnessing AI to work on The Witcher 4 and other future projects of CD Projekt.
Gen AI, to be honest, is quite tricky when it comes to legal IP ownership and so on, and many other aspects. So when it comes to implementation of any gen AI in the actual games, we really have nothing happening when it comes to Witcher 4 or any projects in the near future.
The use of AI "creativity" in the light of law is certainly one of the main issues. Generating images or texts using "creative" AI for fun has become commonplace. However, including such "creations" (which are essentially based on the work of real people) in a commercial product raises considerable controversy. This is especially true when it comes to using computer-generated versions of actors' voices. Even Valve, at one time, removed a lot of games from Steam, justifying it with the possible violation of copyright laws by the content "created" by AI.
Of course, the most noticeable problem is not necessarily the quality of the "works" produced by artificial intelligence (which has significantly improved in recent years), but their "consistency." This is visible in videos created by AI, and particularly in game engines that employ its algorithms. The fact that artificial intelligence can be used in this way is impressive, but let's be honest: it's just an experiment, far from practical application.
So it's not surprising that CD Projekt Group prefers to be cautious for now. Perhaps these AI problems will be solved before the launch of The Witcher 4, which won't be released earlier than in 2027.
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