Copyright gamespot
In the wake of Krafton Inc. becoming an "AI-first" company, developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment said that it won't adhere to its publisher's wishes, confirming that the team isn't using generative AI for the action-adventure survival sim Subnautica 2. In a post on the game's official Discord server, community manager Donya Abramo explained the relationship between a publisher and a developer. Likening it to that of a library, Abramo said that Krafton Inc. provides the tools while Unknown Worlds Entertainment chooses what it will and won't use for development, and GenAI is one of those tools that the team will simply not touch. "We're not using generative AI to develop Subnautica 2," Abramo wrote. "We have an 'AI system' in the game that is similar to ones that have always been in our games: the creature behavior trees." Abramo then pointed players to a September 16 developer vlog, which went into detail about the "creature behavior trees" the team uses in the game. According to AI gameplay lead engineer Antonio Muñoz Gallego, Unknown Worlds Entertainment uses "classic AI," a form of the tech that "improves the hero trees" to make creatures more reactive to player inputs and environmental happenings. It's all a very tech-y way of saying that Subnautica 2's AI is built by humans rather than code generated by other forms of code. As such, Abramo said that players can rest assured knowing that the developers won't use generative AI for Subnautica 2 because the team's workflow has already been established. "It is very unlikely that that will change," Abramo continued. "We already have a lot of our teams, pipelines, and systems set up. But, ultimately, our relationship with Krafton is the same as it has always been. They provide us access to valuable tools and resources, and we choose which are the right fit for our projects." This comes after Krafton Inc.--publisher of The Callisto Protocol, PUBG, the Subnautica games, and Tango Gameworks' upcoming Hi-Fi Rush 2--announced a $70 million investment into generative AI to become a leading force for the controversial technology in the games industry. Subnautica 2 is embroiled in legal troubles, too, with Unknown Worlds Entertainment's former leadership team slapping Krafton Inc. with a lawsuit this past September. Originally scheduled to launch in 2025 for PC and Xbox Series X|S, Subnautica 2 has been delayed to an unspecified 2026 release window.
