IGF: Jurors Exclude AI, House House Responds

Jurors from the Independent Games Festival declare they will not vote for games using generative AI. At the same time, House House, the creator of Big Walk, details a minimal use of LLM to solve technical problems, acknowledges a lack of internal framework, and announces a forthcoming policy.

House House reports minimal use of LLM and promises a policy

House House states that less than 0.1% of the code for Big Walk comes from excerpts derived from LLM responses, used as a starting point before modification, and that generative AI was not employed in other aspects of the game's creation. The studio clarifies that its primary use of LLMs involved researching solutions to issues encountered with third-party code via chatbots, including fixing a shadow issue based on code suggested by an LLM, after thoroughly studying the problem and consulting an engineer at Unity.
The studio acknowledges that it did not have an AI policy during development, calling it a "failure," and indicates a desire to implement a more comprehensive policy in the future. It specifies that its communication does not constitute support for the use of AI tools, expresses concern that voluntary disclosures may contribute to normalizing the technology, states its support for those seeking to limit the harms of generative AI, and apologizes if the use of LLMs in Big Walk does not meet some expectations. House House notes that it mentioned the use of AI in its submission to the IGF, but not on the game's Steam page, as the platform does not require disclosure of code or chatbot usage.

IGF jurors refuse to vote for games using generative AI

Jurors from the Independent Games Festival announce that they will not vote for games using generative AI, in any form. They observe a significant increase in the number of submissions developed with these tools, leading to intense discussions and disagreements without universal consensus. The signatories assert that generative AI has negative effects and that the generated code is not exempt from these harms, adding that the adoption of these tools is not an inevitability in the industry.
The jurors clarify that their position does not represent the IGF organization or the entire jury. Among the signatories are Sam Barlow, creator of Telling Lies and Immortality, and Lena Raine, composer of Celeste. Some have expressed concerns about potential professional repercussions related to signing the statement.

Big Walk cited as a controversial case and studio response

Big Walk, a cooperative adventure game developed by House House, is cited as an apparently controversial title in this context. The studio explains that it used AI very minimally during the final phase of development, primarily to overcome technical challenges and fix bugs.