AI Takes Over World of Warcraft? ChatGPT Tells Ion Hazzikostas to Return to the Shadowlands!
World of Warcraft players, brace yourselves: ChatGPT has spoken, and it’s recommending a return to one of the game’s least-loved expansions. In an interview with IGN, game director Ion Hazzikostas revealed that when he first gained access to AI chatbot ChatGPT, he asked it what the next WoW expansion should be, and the bot’s response was “Return to the Shadowlands.”
For those who don’t remember, Shadowlands was the expansion that directly preceded the current one, and it wasn’t exactly a fan favorite. Players criticized the slow rollout of content, the multiple time-gated endgame grinds, and the controversial treatment of beloved character Sylvanas Windrunner. So it’s a bit of a head-scratcher that ChatGPT would suggest revisiting it, even if it’s possible that the bot’s response is influenced by recent mentions of Shadowlands on the internet.
But despite the goofy suggestion, Hazzikostas and executive producer Holly Longdale also offered a more serious discussion of the team’s thoughts on AI. They confirmed that some parts of WoW’s art pipeline use machine learning to automate arduous tasks, but they’re not worried about AI replacing human developers anytime soon. Longdale emphasized that while AI presents new opportunities for the interactive space, the team is focused on excellence in design and making sure everything has a human touch.
In the full interview, Hazzikostas and Longdale also discuss current content cadence and future roadmaps for WoW, as well as player toxicity and group loot. The conversation around AI in game development continues, with some developers hesitant to integrate it too much for fear of losing the human touch. But as technology advances, it’s clear that AI will continue to play a role in game development, whether as a tool to automate mundane tasks or as a source of creative inspiration. As for WoW players, only time will tell if ChatGPT’s recommendation to return to the Shadowlands will be heeded.