Firmament includes content that the developers themselves didn’t entirely create, and it hasn’t won the support of everyone…

It was also mentioned in the game’s credits that Cyan Worlds created certain things with the help of AI. The complete list: “Journals, logs, checklists, newspapers, stories, songs, poems, letters, loosely scattered papers; all backer portraits; all founders portraits; the “sunset” paintings; the art-nouveau wallpaper in the Swan dormitory hallways; propaganda banners; coastal spill decal kit; all voiced mentor, announcer, founder, and other speeches; backer-exclusive content.” They didn’t create them entirely with AI but used the technology as an aid.

For example, the voice acting was 100% performed by a human, but the pitch, timbre, and tone were modified using an AI tool with the consent of the uncredited performers. The studio has not explained how, for example, the diary entries were “helped” by the AI. Perhaps they used ChatGPT because of its LLM (large language model) and rewrote what they had as a draft. And in the case of artwork, maybe the artists reworked material created with OpenAI’s Dall-E, or the technology played a minor role.

Firmament’s developers raised over $1.4 million on Kickstarter in 2019. Still, many backers expressed their displeasure and said using generative, creative AI was unethical because they felt they were getting a sub-standard game. They think the developers should have stated the role of the technology from the outset instead of hiding this fact in the credits. A backer, Ryusui, wrote, “I don’t want my money going towards projects making extensive use of AI-generated content, especially when the art and writing made by HUMANS are why I keep coming back to these games. Way to alienate a longtime fan, Cyan!” E Color wrote, “If I wanted an AI to create a game, why am I paying a company to do that for me instead of myself? I fear I will no longer back or purchase any future Cyan projects.”

Bugs and puzzles that were too simple or possibly tedious were frequently raised as criticisms, and players said the environments were lifeless. The narrative was dull, with many blaming the AI for these. In May, a Steam review summed it up nicely: “The realms feel so shallow with only a few pieces of writing per realm (maybe like ten things to read the entire game total). Then to rub salt in the wound, they used AI to assist with this game, including journals and newspapers. For such a successful Kickstarter and a game that already has no text, it’s a shame that they used AI to write half-baked journal entries.” And another Kickstarter comment from Io Otter: “I wouldn’t have given money if I’d known AI was going to be used, though in retrospect it certainly goes to explain why for how beautiful the worlds looked, they felt as equally devoid of life.”

All we can say to that is that it’s embarrassing.

Source: PCGamer