Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says a world where AI generates games, TV shows, and even doctor’s appointments is inevitable, and he’s even “looking forward” to that future.
In arguably the veteran game developer’s saddest “fun Friday” video ever, Cain envisions a world in which dead MMOs come back to life with AI-generated players mimicking real-life personalities, where generative AI makes Joey from Friends a lawyer instead of a struggling actor, and where you take vacations in VR. Yes, really.
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At multiple points in the video, Cain acknowledges the sensitive nature of generative AI being used to create content, but that doesn’t stop him from saying generative AI will be used to create content. In TV sitcoms, he reckons, you’ll be able to instantly change characters’ professions and generate different settings in place of those you don’t like.
“Imagine you’re watching a TV on your smart TV, and let’s say it’s a sitcom. And you’re watching it and you’re like, ‘Eh, I don’t really like the main character, this mechanic guy, I want him to be a lawyer.’ Bam, instant change. He’s now a lawyer,” Cain says.
“‘Hey AI, I want the setting to be different’ … boom, setting changes. And also, now all of the jokes need to be changed cause there were a lot of blue collar jokes and I want a lot of funny, legal-esque jokes. Boom, those all change. While you’re watching, it will change the sitcom to all of that.”
Cain also predicts AI will be able to “generate new episodes” of old TV shows that have long since ended, and even transform old episodes into 2026-appropriate versions. Sticking with Joey from Friends as an example, just imagine the same Mr. Tribbiani that you know and love from the early ’00s, but he’s rizzing up high-key cute girls and blasting his co-stars with massive vape clouds. Just what people in their 30s who watched that show growing up have always wanted.
Watch On
How will gen AI Impact games? Cain predicts you’ll be able to change the very building blocks just like with TV. “You like a game and you want more content? It’ll just generate it,” he says. “Like a game but think it has a weak storyline? Change it. Like a game except for some of its mechanics? Change them.
“Just say, ‘Hey, I want fast travel but only between cities. I don’t want quest markers but I do want quest log.’ Boom, boom, boom, boom, the game will just change right there immediately for you.”
Cain goes on to say this will be especially handy for MMO players, in particular those who miss being able to play games that aren’t active anymore. “Have an AI make a local server,” he proposes. “Great, now you can play it again. Oh, it’s empty? Fill it with AI players. Have it watch videos of people who have played that game and just fill it up with players, and it mimics their personalities.”
Look, Cain is a veteran of the industry who was instrumental to one of the most beloved video game IPs of all time, but with all due respect, the idea of playing Ultima Online with AI-generated players designed to mimic the personalities of my friends who I used to play with… is genuinely one of the grimmest, most dire, dystopian realities I can possibly fathom. Likewise, my heart sinks at the thought of playing AI-generated stories with AI-generated characters that I can change however I want. That sounds like it would entirely rob a game, or any work of art, of its artistic intent. But alas, Cain reckons this is all inevitable, so get ready.
“It goes way beyond that, though,” Cain threatens. “I’m looking forward to having my own personal AI diagnostician … maybe I’d like a nutritionist, or a trainer, who’s been with me for years, who knows my entire case history, knows what my goals are, knows, ‘Hey my body didn’t do well with intermittent fasting, but it loved keto.'”
“Figure out why, and offer me a diet based on that,” Cain tells this imagined AI, “rather than just have a new nutritionist tell me, ‘No, no, no, you didn’t do intermittent fasting right. Let’s do it.’ We waste six months and bam, she’s like, ‘Huh, I guess intermittent fasting doesn’t work for you.’ ‘Yeah, you’re removed. I want my AI nutritionist.”
Fallout 2076
On paper, some of these real-world applications are easier to swallow than AI mingling with art – though I would never trust AI with health advice, nor should anybody – but it’s no less dystopian to imagine. And there’s more.
Still moody about that trip you had to cancel due to weather? “Why not just do that trip in VR?” asks Cain, presumably imagining AI-generated beaches. Oh, why not throw 3D printing into the mix? Eventually, that could be used to generate your clothes, furniture, food, and possibly even water, so you’ll never have to leave your house. Yay, I think?
“This is gonna be an interesting time,” Cain says. “Some of the things I’ve described are probably gonna be here in a year or two, other things are gonna take a lot longer, but eventually this is all gonna happen. And so, yeah, it’ll need to be regulated.”
Oh, thank goodness, government regulation. We’ve all seen in the last couple of years how effective our governments have been at regulating AI even in its relative infancy, as it is right now in Cain’s view. It’s not like generative AI has become ubiquitous enough to spread misinformation like wildfire on social media or displace jobs by the thousands. Surely, in a much more advanced form, it’ll be a lot easier to wrangle.
“How are creators gonna get paid?” asks Cain, rightfully.
Nuka-Water
Sarcasm aside, AI is already a massive problem for all sorts of creative professionals across many different mediums, including voice acting, writing, art, and design. If it becomes convincing enough to generate entire TV shows and video games that are passable or enjoyable – something that I simply don’t believe is possible – that problem begins to balloon exponentially.
Cain’s solution? “I think some of this will be handled by, you can make patterns,” he says. “So you don’t make clothing anymore, but you make clothing patterns that people buy, and when someone prints clothing with your pattern on it, you get some money, or credits, or whatever you use to do all this stuff.”
It’s difficult to separate Cain’s predictions and wants in the video, but his tone remains almost eager throughout. It’s a bizarre watch. Again, I’m really not here to rag on such a respected industry figure, but by Cain’s own logic, wouldn’t those clothing patterns be generated by AI at this point in the future? Surely if the technology can be used to generate complex projects or essential resources, it can create clothing patterns, too. Even if it couldn’t, what about the voice actors? Writers? We can’t all make clothing patterns.
“Video games are cooked”: Publisher head says “it doesn’t matter” how many of us hate gen AI, Pandora’s box has opened and “it’s gonna get used now”
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