Eric Barone says Stardew Valley and Haunted Chocolatier will forever be AI-free because people "should take priority over a soulless machine"

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There's very little you can scratch off your bingo card in the age of AI, but one thing seems pretty certain: you won't see an AI-generated ear of corn or romanceable NPC in any of Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone's games.

That comes straight from the man himself, who explains his hardline stance against AI in a new interview with Game Informer (paywalled). Barone says he can understand AI's appeal when it's "being used for very specific zoomed-in cases, maybe," but says anything creative is better left to humans.

"You're offloading creativity to an algorithm, which I think is always gonna undermine the pure and authentic human element of what you're doing," Barone says.

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"So for me, as someone who wants to express myself in an artistic way, I wouldn't ever want to use AI for any sort of creative thing, because it's beside the point of what I'm doing. My goal is to express myself in a creative way. Why would I let an AI do that for me?"

Of course, as is always the case with stories about AI in game development, it's critical to differentiate automation from straight-up AI-generated art, stories, music, performances, what have you. Barone is clearly outright rejecting the latter, but it remains to be seen whether the tech is being used in any capacity on Stardew Valley or Haunted Chocolatier. In Barone's view, if there's a task that allows for any sort of human expression, it had better be made by humans.

"At the very least, let another human being express themselves if you need help. That's probably what I would say. There are plenty of humans out there that would like an opportunity to express themselves. I feel like that should take priority over a soulless machine," he says.

As more and more developers express public views on AI, I'm increasingly curious to see what sort of consensus forms about whether there's a threshold for acceptable AI use in games, and if so, where that line lies. Personally, just taking a stand against AI-generated art, acting, and narrative writing doesn't stir me very strongly, since the majority of legitimate studios are still separating AI from creative tasks.

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Rather, I'm more interested to hear takes on AI-assisted quality assurance, localization, and animation tools like the one PlayStation used on Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. Those are the real gray areas I want to see more notable game developers get specific about. Even so, I'm glad to hear AI slop is a hard no for ConcernedApe.

ConcernedApe spends 5 days a week on Haunted Chocolatier and 2 on Stardew Valley, says the new game is "a lot harder" to make

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Jordan GerblickStaff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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