The increasing use of AI in gaming draws ambivalent responses. While some appreciate it when used in the right context, others complain that it lacks the artistic flair that only humans can bring. Date Ariane’s creator, Ariane Barnes, has been warning of the possible harms of AI in gaming all year, and it hasn’t stopped in December.
For the uninitiated, Date Ariane is a classic game that launched in 2004 and has gone on to be highly influential in the realm of adult visual novels. It has a simple premise – go on a date with Ariane and ensure it ends on a sexual note. It’s still available, has received remasters, and the creator has released other visual novels in the same vein.
In a blog released this month, she describes 2023 as the year of the rise and fall of AI, claiming that “in less than a year, AI went from a promised new future to an industry with no real future, at least not as everyone envisioned it.” AI images are still being used, but they face large hurdles such as Steam’s crackdown on the tech, and increasing issues with copyright violations regarding how and where the technology sources its data.
One of the problems highlighted is the effect the rise of AI has had on the 3D art community. Date Ariane features 3D art, with the creator describing herself as “kind of a pro.” However, she can’t ignore the ignore the advantages that AI brings. As she argues: “if your only goal is to generate “pretty pictures”, AI tools are faster cheaper easier and better than 3D.” Because of this, she claims there has been a slowdown in the growth of the 3D art community.
Nevertheless, she believes that there are some aspects of 3D art that AI can’t replicate just yet. One of those aspects is consistency. In her own experiments, she uses AI to depict Ariane “as consistent as possible, and the resulting images are anything but consistent.” This is one of the reasons she argues that AI isn’t a threat to most artists just yet.
She concludes that modern AI just doesn’t cut it when it comes to visual novels and storytelling because “storytelling requires showing multiple different people interacting, meaning you have to AI create each person, then use and inpainting tools or good old photoshop to combine them separately.”
Consequently, she sticks to 3D art when it comes to her visual novels. This doesn’t mean she finds no value in the technology, as she has used voice AI in her projects.
Should we fear the AI revolution?
Despite the power of AI, Date Ariane‘s creator isn’t convinced that the feared AI apocalypse is here – at least not yet. There are just too many downsides and limitations to the technology at present.
AI writing is one of the things she criticizes. With her experiments with ChatGPT, she finds that it has “good ideas to put in the scene, good examples that I never would have thought of, but the tone was all wrong.” It also hasn’t perfected the art of fact-checking.
She also claims that AI fails to be “awesome.” This argument is based on a definition of awesomeness by Nick Riggle which is inspired by Kantian philosophy. It boils down to “social openings and getting similar social openings in response.” There’s no ulterior motive for these social openings and you can appreciate them with disinterested pleasure.
AI can’t produce this kind of awesomeness, according to the visual novel creator. Though it can generate several images of Ariane, “in none of those images were there silly flourishes, writing on the dress, a surprise puppy stealing the show.” This drives her to the conclusion that “by Kant’s definition, it is not ‘beautiful’, or by Riggle’s definition, it is not ‘awesome’.”
These are all interesting points raised, and there are many ways to apply them to Date Ariane. The tech could be seen as an impediment to human artistic flair, but it’s also equally easy to question whether there was ever any disinterested pleasure in a title solely about getting your date naked, AI or not.
