Amid backlash, The Finals lead doubles down on the FPS’ controversial AI usage, says it allows the team to “work better and faster, and do more with less”

gamesradar.com:

The brand and communications director of The Finals developer Embark Studios has addressed the backlash to the studio's controversial choice of leaning on AI when developing the popular new FPS game, saying that the generative tools allow the team to "work better and faster, and do more with less."

Speaking to Game Developer, Embark Studios brand and comms director Sven Grundberg says the choice to discuss the team's use of generative AI tools on a podcast earlier this year was a deliberate one. 

"We saw the discussion happening, and one of the reasons we discussed it from the onset [on the developer podcast] was because we have been super transparent about the use of AI-based TTS (text-to-speech) in the game," he says. "One thing that we want to make really clear in terms of how we use those tools in The Finals is that we use a combination of recorded voice actors and AI-based TTS that is based on contracted voice actors, we don't generate voice and video from thin air."

As for the why, Grundberg says leaning on generative AI tools allows the team to "work better and faster, and do more with less." 

"That's been throughout all levels of craft at Embark Studios, which includes procedural tools for environmental design, like photogrammetry, and other areas like animation as well," he says. 

"I think with these new tools, they're not going to go away. The important thing for us is to be transparent about the way we use them. That's the context we want to provide, going forward."

As for concerns that the usage of AI in this manner takes work away from voice actors, Grundberg says that Embark Studios does "use a bunch of voice actors," although "these new tools allow us to do things that we couldn't do before outside of our