Players were outraged that 11 bit studios used generative artificial intelligence in the subtitles and texts of the fantasy game The Alters, without indicating this in the description. The developers explained that fragments of AI tips were included in the project.
Players were outraged that 11 bit studios used generative artificial intelligence in the subtitles and texts of the fantasy game The Alters, without indicating this in the description. The developers explained that fragments of AI tips were included in the project.
Starting in January 2024, Valve will require games that use pre-generated or real-time AI to disclose this information as part of the Steam Distribution Agreement. This includes graphics, code, sound, and anything else that was created using AI tools, Eurogamer notes.
The Alters, a science fiction game, did not have such a label, but players noticed signs of generative AI in it. For example, in one case, the monitor displayed the following text: «Of course, here is a revised version, focusing exclusively on scientific and astronomical data.» This is a typical response from an AI chatbot, such as ChatGPT, responding to a user’s query.
Another player who played with Brazilian Portuguese subtitles said that «a few times the subtitles get messed up.» In his case, it looked like this: «Of course! The text translated into Brazilian Portuguese reads like this: Every conversation that two people can have, right? So we…»
Did The Alters (captain) use a little bit of AI?
by u/EarthlingKira in TheAlters
Many players were outraged that the developers were clearly using generative AI and did not disclose this in the game’s description on Steam. 11 bit studios soon commented on the situation.
«We have seen many allegations regarding the use of AI-generated content in The Alters, and we believe it is important to explain our approach and provide you with more context. AI-generated assets were used solely as temporary working versions during the development process and to a very limited extent,» the developers noted .
The company admitted that during development, one of the graphic designers used AI-generated text for an asset that was supposed to be part of the background texture as a placeholder and was not supposed to make it into the final version. However, due to an error, it remained there for the release. 11 bit studios claims that they conducted a check and found this to be an isolated incident.
«In addition, several licensed films were added in the final stages of development that alters can watch in the social area of the base. Although they were produced by external companies, our team was not involved in the creative process, and they required additional translations at the last minute. Due to extreme time constraints, we decided not to involve our translation partners and localized these videos using artificial intelligence to be ready for launch,» the developers said.
They assured that they will engage trusted localization agencies after release to correct the translations. The studio emphasized that The Alters has a total of 3.4 million words across all localizations, and several videos that may have AI translation have a word count of 10,000, which is 0,3%. 11 bit studios noted that the alternative was to release these films only in English, but decided that this would worsen the user experience.
«In retrospect, we admit that this was the wrong decision. Moreover, regardless of what we decided, we simply had to let you know about it,» the developers admitted.
The Alters is a science fiction survival game about the sole survivor of a space expedition, Jan Dolski, after a crash landing on a hostile planet. To survive, players must form a new crew for a mobile base. To do this, they will create alternate versions of Jan, the Alters, each of whom is the embodiment of different fateful decisions from the protagonist’s past.
The project was released on June 13 and has Ukrainian localization.
