AI won’t Replace World of Warcraft Director’s Position

With AI technology increasingly featured in news headlines, game developers have been considering whether they should integrate artificial intelligence into their development pipelines. Although there are concerns that AI will replace human developers, World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas is not worried about losing his job after interacting with ChatGPT.

In an interview with IGN ahead of the launch of the Embers of Neltharion patch, Hazzikostas revealed that when he first gained access to the AI chatbot ChatGPT, he asked it what the next World of Warcraft expansion should be.

“I kid you not, the number one prompt it returned to me…was ‘Return to the Shadowlands.’ So I feel like I have pretty good job security, not too worried about ChatGPT replacing me anytime soon.”

Ion Hazzikostas and World of Warcraft executive producer Holly Longdale provided a more serious perspective on their team’s views regarding AI. Hazzikostas acknowledged that WoW’s art pipeline has utilized machine learning for certain tasks, which has been a practice for several years. The purpose is to automate tedious and time-consuming tasks, such as adjusting helmets to fit Blood Elf ears. Doing so, it allows the team’s skilled artists to allocate more time to creating exceptional and innovative artwork instead of focusing on menial work.