There is huge debate around AI right now and how it is not only ruining the customer electronic markets but worse, it is affecting creativity across the board. There are “artists” who can’t draw, and coders who can’t debug their code thanks to AI.
GenAI is heavily injected into the gaming industry as well and for the most part, any game even remotely associated with GenAI gets backlash from the community. But Rust developer Alistair McFarlane has a different take on GenAI.
Speaking with Skynews to discuss what he thinks ‘about angry fans,’ Alistair McFarlane said GenAI doesn’t impact creativity and should be considered as any other development tool.
[AI] is powerful, it’s efficient, and at the end of the day, it’s just another tool, one that helps people move faster and focus on the creative stuff. Sure, it’s disruptive, no question about that. Every major shift in tech is. But used properly, AI doesn’t replace creativity, it amplifies it. It removes busywork, speeds up iteration, and gives teams more space to experiment.
One of the main criticisms around GenAI is that it is trained of stolen data from millions of creatives around the world. Any content created using GenAI is technically theft. But at the same time, most companies that heavily invested in AI are pushing for new lenient copyright laws, and products like Google’s Genie to create what gamers call, AI Slop.
Whether you agree with McFarlane’s take or not, the fact is that the human cost of AI is high. Thousands of jobs lost at just Microsoft in the last couple of years alone due to the company’s AI pivot. AI data centers are consumer fresh water which is reportedly becomes a public health risk.
AI data centers are rapidly increasing global water consumption, with large facilities using up to 5 million gallons daily for cooling, equivalent to a town of 10,000–50,000 people. As AI workloads increase, these facilities are straining local water supplies, particularly in dry regions, by utilizing drinking water for cooling and power generation, according to Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
Do you agree with Alistair McFarlane? Is AI just a tool?
