Warframe community director says 'nothing in our games will be AI-generated, ever'

Generative AI has wormed its way into all sorts of high-profile games, but plenty of developers have taken a hard stance against the tech. Digital Extremes has just joined the chorus of anti-AI game developers, with community director Megan Everett telling GameSpot she's "very passionate about not having any of that shit."

"We are a very non-AI company and it is all humans making Warframe and Soulframe," she said. "I literally don't even want to open any type of timeline and look at art because I'm like, 'Am I being fooled?' I literally don't know if what I'm looking at is real, and I get so frustrated about it, it's so annoying … Nothing in our games will be AI-generated. Ever."

In the same conversation, Everett mentioned a recent community stream where someone submitted some AI-generated fan art of a Warframe-inspired Gundam. "I thought it was so cool, and so I showed it," she said. "Immediately, everyone watching the stream clocked it, and I was devastated. It was so damn sneaky."

While the AI bubble is threatening to burst in wake of the RAMpocalypse and developers are growing increasingly skeptical of the technology, recent estimates still reckon generative AI is ubiquitous in gamedev. Arc Raiders, which was a huge success despite prominent and extensive use of AI voice acting, is phasing out generated assets for handmade ones—but its publisher Nexon recently praised the game for proving AI is a handy money-saver.

Even with big studios like Digital Extremes drawing a line in the sand, it's hard to put a cat back in the bag. While a recent survey found that 9/10 devs want more detailed and consistent AI disclosures on Steam, there's been a lot of asking forgiveness rather than permission with games like Crimson Desert and Anno 117, both of which had AI "placeholders" quietly slip into the final game.

The waters being so murky has even pushed developers to change handcrafted art just because it resembled generative AI—slop-induced paranoia is sure to have an impact on any given developer, whether they use the tech or not. At the very least, Everett's words have redoubled my excitement for the upcoming Soulframe, which is still a ways off.