Cyan, the studio behind the celebrated game Myst, has recently faced backlash regarding their use of AI in the development of their new game, Firmament. In a detailed statement released via Twitter, the developers denied claims that much of the game was generated using AI tools.
This statement comes in response to recent allegations made by several media outlets, suggesting that the game largely relied on AI for its content generation. One such allegation, a headline from Kotaku, claimed, “Myst Studio’s New Game Has Loads Of AI-Generated Stuff.”
Cyan refuted these allegations, stating, “Unfortunately, there have been articles published recently which have implied (especially in their headlines) that Cyan generated much of Firmament using AI tools. This is categorically false and misleading, and we are disappointed and frustrated to see this happening.”
The developers further clarified their use of AI, stating, “The voice performances in Firmament were voiced 100% of the time by a talented member of our development team who elected not to be credited by name.” They confirmed that the voice was modulated using AI tools, but with the actor’s full permission and control.
Cyan also acknowledged that their narrative team used AI writing tools, but stressed that it was only to experiment with how the team’s own information was presented in the game. The team clarified that “other than the small handful of textural assets described, no AI tools were used in any aspect of Cyan’s world-building or art creation efforts.”
Referring to the human talent behind the game, Cyan added, “We are disappointed to see their contributions minimized and overshadowed by egregious speculation about our usage of AI tools.” They assured that while AI tools did aid in the development of certain content, “absolutely nothing in this small fraction of content for the game was generated and used outright from these services without extensive human oversight and revision.”
To their Kickstarter backers expressing disappointment over the AI tool usage, Cyan replied, “These tools land in a gray area for many, but we hope that some accurate context (instead of a spicy headline) helps clarify this for you.” The team hoped that this detailed explanation would provide a clearer picture of how AI was used during Firmament’s development.
Comments