Original Halo Trilogy artist Eddie Smith explains that studios relying on Generative AI for concept art and other assets will soon be in for a “rude awakening”.

After discussing the issues of AI in game development with Splinter Cell creator Clint Hocking, we spoke to Smith about his experience with AI in creative fields. Smith, who designed Combat Evolved’s Forerunner aesthetic and redesigned Master Chief for Halo 2, isn’t entirely against the use of Gen AI.

The veteran games artist, who is currently working on a brand-new illustrated novel dubbed Godspeed, has already been involved in AI-led productions, and he’s seen how teams suffer due to the belief that AI can do everything. As some games push further into AI-focused development, Smith warns that game studios are bound to fall into similar pitfalls. 

Speaking to FRVR, Smith explained that he was involved in the Las Vegas Sphere version of The Wizard of Oz. The project saw the original MGM film reformatted to a 360-degree view with new art used to extend the original 4:3 frame into a new format, and AI tools were used, but even that team realised that they could not rely on generative AI tools.

“They used generative AI, but they didn’t have to,” he said. “It was one of those things where the technology was part of what helped the movie get funded… it’s like, ‘okay, this technology is what we used to get the backing so we need to do it this way’.”

Smith explained that human-made art was essential to the finished product. Not only was there heavy use of human art in almost every frame, but the artists also trained the AI on brand-new art pieces so the tool could work in the art style of The Wizard of Oz.

“I got to see what the monster looked like up close and then it, ironically, pun intended, it was like The Wizard with the curtained pulled back.”

OG Halo Trilogy Artist Eddie Smith on Generative AI

“When they started it, of course, they thought the AI would do a lot of it,” he explained. “And they realised, no, the AI is really, it just does what you teach it to do. I look at AI almost like a toddler, an extremely advanced toddler, who’s just learned how to talk and obey standard instructions. But they’re still a really small child and they constantly have to be reinforced and read.”

The Halo artist explained that the project had the same minor faults as any artist-led project with manual touch-ups needed on every frame. “I got to see what the monster looked like up close and then it, ironically, pun intended, it was like The Wizard with the curtained pulled back,” he added. “It’s like, ‘oh, okay. AI is not really that smart’. AI you have to constantly train it like a child. Now that people ask, ‘well, what if once you’ve trained it you [aren’t needed]’. There is no ‘once you’ve trained it’. You’re always training it.”

On the games side, multiple studios are now using Generative AI for concept art and background assets. There’s been significant backlash to the use of the technology in games, especially paid experiences. Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert recently stripped out its AI art after fan complaints, Baldur’s Gate 3 studio Larian announced it will refrain from GenAI in Divinity after backlash, and new in-development game 1666: Amsterdam just apologised for their use of allegedly temporary AI assets. 

Smith explained that studios using AI for concept art or as a crutch to help them finish games are not going to get the answers they seek from the technology. “They’re gonna get a rude awakening because I was already part of that process,” he said. “I already saw from the production of the Wizard of Oz is fear. I saw them go through that arc. I saw them realise, ‘oh, we’re going to need to hire artists to do this.”

The Halo artist explained that he only got the job for The Wizard of Oz as the studio wanted to teach artists prompting before the script flipped. While the artists were pushed to use AI, it was not to rejig their own materials, and the human-led art overtook the original intent of the technology. In the end it was a tool, and there will always be a clear gap between artistic intent and full AI generation.

As an artist who worked on Halo 2, a game which restarted development with teams of artists redoing almost every asset, Smith explained that AI will not help studios finish games faster. At the end of the day, every game needs a strong art direction from the start, a clear vision from the start. If not, the same issues that plague every game, AI or not, will still plague yours.

“Unless you know what you’re doing, AI is not going to help you,” he said. “All the problems that people have had in games and the reasons why they don’t finish games, AI is not going to solve that. AI is going to help you not finish games even more. If you’re the type of art director who doesn’t know what they want, you still won’t know what you want.”

Additionally, there’s the fact that artwork for games should be intrinsically tied to gameplay. The Desert Storm-inspired aesthetic of Smith’s work on Halo 2 impacted the feel of the game. AI can play a game in some cases, sure, but it can’t feel the game. It can tell you it’s good, it can tell you it fits, but it doesn’t actually know.

“The AI cannot be precise to what the production needs. Your artistic decisions have to be precisely calibrated for the gameplay loop. What is the game design? What is your gameplay? If it’s not going into the gameplay, don’t put it there. AI doesn’t know that. It couldn’t possibly know that. You could even feed, you could somehow tell the AI your entire gameplay design. It’s still not going to get it.”

In the end, there’s a scene in Halo which fits AI’s use in art quite well. Halfway through Halo 4, a game that Smith did not work on, Cortana inadvertently sums up the issues with AI in artistic works. “I can give you over forty thousand reasons why I know that sun isn’t real,” she says as she looks upon Requiem’s artificial sun. “I know it because the emitter’s Rayleigh Effect is disproportionate to its suggested size. I know it be cause its stellar cycle is more symmetrical than that of an actual star. But, for all of that, I’ll never actually know if it looks real. If it feels real.”