Update (June 9): Firmament developer Cyan Worlds has issued a longer statement on Twitter, reiterating that the game's voice performances were not generated by AI, but by staff who chose not to be credited, and that the AI writing tools were not used to generate text, but for "ideation and experimentation," and that the AI art tools were also used for "ideation" and only for "texture assets for very specific scenarios." He added.

"Cyan has a talented team (all human) with a wide range of skills and experience who have been working on this game from scratch for over four years. It would be a shame to see their contributions minimized and overshadowed by egregious speculation about the use of AI tools." While individuals within the team have utilized AI tools to assist in the development of the above content, there is absolutely no small portion of the game's content that was generated from these services and used as is without extensive human oversight and modification.

Several backers have defended the studio in comments on Firmament's Kickstarter: "The level of hatred for the trivial use of human-made tools to make human work easier is astounding," said one backer.

Others are also frustrated. One response to the statement on Twitter read, "As a Kickstarter backer, I feel like you guys lied to me by not disclosing your plans to use AI in the first place."

Original (June 7): In the credits of Firmament, the latest puzzle game from Myst developer Cyan Worlds, a short paragraph of text reveals that many aspects of the game, including written lore and voice acting, were created with the help of AI. Some people noticed the "AI-assisted content" message shortly after Firmament was released in May, while others (like me via Kotaku) are only now learning about it. For some players, it explains a lot.

For a complete list of what generative AI involved, take a deep breath: "Journals, logs, checklists, newspapers, stories, songs, poems, letters, scattered papers, portraits of all patrons, portraits of all founders, 'sunset' paintings, art nouveau of the Swan dorm hallway tone wallpaper, propaganda banners, coastal spill decal kits, all voiced mentors, announcers, founders, other speeches, patron-only content.

Cyan Worlds told Kotaku that these aspects of Firmament were "assisted and not entirely created" by AI tools used by Cyan staff. As an example, the developer stated that "all voice-acted content was 100% performed by actual humans," but that "tone, pitch, and tone" were modified using AI tools and with the consent of the performer (who, oddly, is not credited). This voice-over performance is one we praised in our review.

Cyan did not explain how elements like the diary were "assisted" by the AI. My interpretation is that a large language model like ChatGPT was used to generate the rough copy, which was then revised by a human writer (I personally call this "human-assisted" writing), but AI could have been used in other ways. It is also not clear how the works mentioned were created: were they generated by a service like OpenAI's Dall-E and edited by a human artist, or were they conceived and produced by an artist with AI tools playing a more subordinate role?

Firmament was funded on Kickstarter, with backers pledging over $1.4 million in 2019 to see the game produced. Many backers have now returned to the Kickstarter comments to express their frustration with Cyan's use of AI. The sentiment repeatedly expressed is that using AI for creative work is unethical and results in inferior games, and that Cyan should have been upfront about using such a controversial new technology in a game it funded, rather than sticking a disclaimer in the credits The argument is that Cyan should have been upfront about the use of such a controversial new technology in a game it funded.

"We don't want them to fund projects that make heavy use of AI-generated content. Especially when art and writing by human hands is the reason we keep coming back to these games," wrote backer Ryusui. Cyan is "alienating longtime fans."

"If you wanted an AI to make your game, why pay a company to do it for you instead of doing it yourself?" wrote E-collar.

"I will no longer be endorsing or purchasing any future Cyan projects.

Our review offers a positive perspective on Firmament, but not an enthusiastic one. However, other players are not satisfied with this adventure puzzler. Two recurring complaints are that it is buggy and that the puzzles are boring or too simplistic, while others say that the picturesque environment lacks life and that the story is dull.

"With only a few sentences per realm, the realm feels very shallow (there are about 10 things to read in the entire game)," wrote a Steam reviewer in May.

"And to rub salt in the wound, they used AI to assist with this game, including diaries and newspapers; it's a complete shame they ran a successful Kickstarter and had AI write a half-assed diary when the game already has very little text."

"The game uses AI for diaries, newspapers, etc.

"Had I known the AI would be used, I would not have paid for it. In retrospect, it certainly makes the world seem equally lifeless, no matter how beautiful it looks," Kickstarter backer Io Otter said recently.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of questions and criticisms surrounding "AI-assisted" game development, and "AI-assisted" everything. Generative AI is used in game development for everything from creating artwork to taking minutes in staff meetings, and is already built into major applications like Photoshop. At a GDC talk I gave, a game developer described a number of everyday ways he integrates generative AI tools into his work, including debugging code and posting to social media. We recently discussed this very topic with Blackbird Interactive of the Hardspace Shipbreaker studio.

I decided to ask Cyan Worlds to elaborate on how they used AI in the development of Firmament and if they had any answers for Kickstarter backers who feel they were misled by inaction.