System Shock studio angers fans by having an AI imagine its own evil AI
The best-laid plans of mice and men, per Robert Burns, can often go very wrong indeed, as the System Shock remake developer Nightdive Studios has just learned. The studio embarked on a little marketing stunt that probably seemed like a good idea at the time, which has been met with fierce pushback: It used the AI software Midjourney to create a picture of Shodan.
We'll get to the pushback but this isn't the worst idea in the world: As the post with the image says, it's «Designed by an immortal machine for an immortal machine» and, y'know, you're not supposed to like Shodan or what she represents. You can even see why this felt like an appropriate experiment.
Look at you, hacker: a pathetic creature of meat and bone. Your body, weak, fragile.How can you challenge a perfect machine?Imagine, how would my immortal body look like? Designed by an immortal machine for an immortal machine.#SHODAN #SystemShock #midjourney #rogueAI pic.twitter.com/i4Gwi2bpdQApril 28, 2023
But us meaty fleshbags didn't like it one bit, and the reaction was overwhelmingly negative. Partly this seems to be coming from the fact that System Shock is a remake of a much-loved game from decades ago that was very much made by meatbags, and partly it's reflecting the wider social unease about just what exactly is going on with AI technology.
«That's not how you advertise a game crafted by people with passion for a franchise,» reads one reply(opens in new tab). «Pay an artist,» reads another(opens in new tab), «I don't want to see slop made from a plagiarism machine.» There's generally a deep distaste for the technology and the current hype around it, as expressed in this memorable simile(opens in new tab): «AI chuds and cringe go together like bread and
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