For better or for worse, AI has reached the world of gaming a long time ago. But does that mean gaming as we know it will be changed forever?
AI has taken the world by storm. Some appreciate the fact that AI chatbots like ChatGPT make things easier, others fear that AI content might ruin things created through genuine human emotion and care, especially art. Video games are a unique case: While AI can make certain things easier and more accessible, games are also an art form. But how do gamer developers and gamers feel about this new side of gaming?
The Rise Of AI And Its Implementation Into Games
Over the last years, AI has reached more and more corners of the internet. Whether it is students using it to finish their assignments or people simply wanting it to generate things for them: ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok seem to be everywhere. While the meme "Chat, is this real?" started out as people making fun of streamers, for some others, it has now morphed into something they associate with ChatGPT.
And it is quite interesting to see how the online landscape has changed due to those tools being so widespread, especially in the gaming industry. Some claim we can't really do anything about AI usage in video games or should even accept it as an improvement.
AI is the future of gaming.
— Alex Utopia (@alexutopia) October 9, 2025
An image generator like Grok Imagine,
predicting one frame after another in real time.
Building infinite worlds as you play. pic.twitter.com/aC1wA7G28b
Many others boycott games that use AI as a form of protest and to send a signal: We prefer when the content we consume was made by humans, not by machines. The game Heartopia recently gained a lot of fans, but also lost some just as quickly due to allegations of generative AI usage and racism.
I uninstalled heartopia as soon as I found out it uses ai (pretty much as soon as it came out)
— LunarNovaaVT ASMRTIST (@Lunar_Novaa) February 16, 2026
Do yall not know or not care?
And Heartopia is not the only game facing backlash for using AI: Arc Raiders has recently been under fire for using AI for their text-to-speech system. When confronted, the publisher stated we as players can "assume that every game company is now using AI."
AI And Streamers
Some streamers have also shown negative emotions towards AI in video games. Recently, a clip of Ninja went viral in which he got killed by an AI and immediately got mad and stopped his marathon stream. If you want to read more about the incident, read this article next: "AI Is Harder Than Real Players": Ninja Rage Quits Marathon As Streamers Push Back On Hate.
Whether it is intentional or something that automatically happened during the rise of AI, it is undeniably changing the gaming industry, leaving gamers more aware of what they are consuming. But AI has not only seeped into games: the first AI streamers have also started popping up. In fact, the AI VTuber Neuro-sama made headlines for breaking the Twitch Hype Train record.
Even though many people are against the usage of AI for entertainment purposes, not everyone is that strict about boycotting these things. To this day, Neuro-sama, who streams under the name of vedal987, stands at about 971k followers on Twitch.
Generally speaking, the usage of AI is a topic that is complicated for everyone: While some like to highlight its usefulness, others often note how AI "art" is a soulless replication of human emotion. Ultimately, for now, AI will probably stay a part of our daily lives.
But what do you think? Let us know in the comments!