RuneScape maker Jagex says it will never use generative AI to make in-game content

UK-based developer Jagex has said players will never encounter content created using AI within its games.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the company’s SVP of product, James Dobrowski, said that it has a “pretty hard line stance” on the matter, saying that it does not want to be using the tech to “drive creativity”.

The executive did say that Jagex is open to using AI, but in areas that players will not see, such as tasks like “tooling efficiency”.

“We’ve got a pretty hard line stance with the team, which is a commitment that no generative AI will ever be present in any asset that a player can touch, hear or feel. There will be no generative AI in the game that they experience,” Dobrowski said.

“Where we are open to the use of AI is in things like tooling efficiency; how do we make the way we work more efficient in order to make our staff’s lives easier and allow us to produce better content. But we do not want to be using AI to drive creativity.”

In addition to ensuring that no generative AI is used internally at Jagex, the company is currently doing a review with its various partners to ensure their work won’t result in content made with the tech making its way into its games.

Dobrowski continued: “That commitment goes so far that we are now doing an audit and having a conversation with our various external partners that work with us to ensure that no AI is being used in inappropriate ways in any of their work that might filter through to the end game.”

At the moment, there is a division within in the games industry over the use of AI. Executives at major companies, such as Nexon, saying that the technology will become increasingly common in development. Games such as Arc Raiders have faced criticism for developer Embark Studios’ use of generative AI; CEO Patrick Soderlund has said that the company is not using the technology to replace people in the creation of video games.

More recently, the CEO of Razer, Min-Liang Tan, argued that consumers are sick of “generative AI slop” but said that there is a place for the technology behind the scenes.

You can read more of our conversation with Jagex’s James Dobrowski later this week.

Disclaimer: Alex Forbes-Calvin is a freelance journalist who has worked with Jagex in the past, including on the RuneScape: The First 20 Years book.