The Last of Us co-director Bruce Straley has described generative AI as “a snake eating its own tail”, discussing how easily use of the tech can be misinterpreted.
Straley left Naughty Dog back in 2017 and has now formed his own independent studio, Wildflower Interactive. In an interview with Polygon about the studio’s debut, Coven of the Chicken Foot, Straley revealed his staunch dislike of generative AI.
“It’s a snake eating its own tail,” he said. “It can’t grow and think for itself, it just consumes, and it tries to mimic what it’s consumed. That’s the best it can do right now.”
Coven of the Chicken Foot – Announcement TrailerWatch on YouTube
Generative AI has not been used in development of Coven of the Chicken Foot, Straley confirmed. However, he noted how the term AI has been used in gaming for decades, but has since become confused and conflated with the current use of generative AI.
“It’s difficult to even pitch the concept of this creature, because in my world, NPCs are AI,” Straley said. “AI programmers are a type of personnel you have on staff in the programming department. Now you can’t say that because if somebody does have an opinion about AI, I can’t now call this creature the most advanced AI companion. People are going to think we did machine learning, and LLMs, and all that. No, we did none of that. This is hard work, and a lot of problem solving, and a lot of creative thinking. Which I think makes it more charming.
“I like art that has chips and flaws. It’s like pottery. It has imperfections because it didn’t come out of the kiln right. That’s the cool stuff about art.”
Straley did admit generative AI could potentially be useful in certain instances, but he’s not interested in using it.
“I feel like without a human being the creation, I personally have zero investment in wanting to watch a TV show made by a robot,” he said. “I have zero interest in looking at art that is generated by a computer. I don’t think prompting is art.”
Straley’s comments are timely, following those of Larian CEO Swen Vincke. In an interview with Bloomberg, Vincke admitted to Larian using generative AI as part of development. When this received backlash online, Vincke clarified that concept artists would not be replaced by AI. Instead the studio uses “AI tools to explore references” and developers can “experiment with these tools to make their lives easier” if they wish to.
The backlash Larian received to Vincke’s initial comment is testament to the strong immediate opinions the use of AI can generate.
Coven of the Chicken Foot was revealed at this year’s The Game Awards showcase – we’ve got a rundown of everything announced.