Artificial Intelligence and Video Game Creation: A Framework for the New Logic of Autonomous Design

Abstract

Autonomous, intelligent tools are reshaping all sorts of work practices, including innovative design work. These tools generate outcomes with little or no user intervention and produce designs of unprecedented complexity and originality, ushering profound changes to how organizations will design and innovate in future. In this paper, we formulate conceptual foundations to analyze the impact of autonomous design tools on design work. We proceed in two steps. First, we conceptualize autonomous design tools as ‘rational’ agents which will participate in the design process. We show that such agency can be realized through two separate approaches of information processing: symbolic and connectionist. Second, we adopt control theory to unpack the relationships between the autonomous design tools, human actors involved in the design, and the environment in which the tools operate. The proposed conceptual framework lays a foundation for studying the new kind of material agency of autonomous design tools in organizational contexts. We illustrate the analytical value of the proposed framework by drawing on two examples from the development of Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Wildlands video game, which relied on such tools. We conclude this essay by constructing a tentative research agenda for the research into autonomous design tools and design work.

How Artificial Intelligence Challenges Tailorable Technology Design

“…Focusing on the initial design of IS, autonomous design describes the independent design decisions of autonomous software tools (e.g., in the form of initial drafts of virtual worlds in game design) (Seidel et al 2018(Seidel et al , 2020. However, autonomous design applies to AI-driven design before use and does not cover design during use (either human-driven or AI-driven).…”

Introduction to the Minitrack on Global Digital Business

“…Concepts of how to activate and develop the complementary strengths of humans and AI [1] or to avoid oppressive ML systems [28] require appropriate organizational practices, for example sequences that have humans make their decisions [29] before considering proposals provided by ML. Within the Information Systems discourse, the need for managerial activities -such as communicating, leading, coordinating, and controlling [30] -or for organizational practices that overcome the perceived limitations of AI in radiology [31] is acknowledged, and the question of how roles will change is considered [32].…”

Artificial intelligence and radical uncertainty

“…With more advanced AI, such as generative AI that creates novel content based on variegated inputs, applications are extending to new, more demanding application areas. AI is increasingly involved in ‘more of the creative parts of knowledge work’ (Berente et al, 2021, p. 1439; von Krogh, 2018; von Krogh et al, 2023), such as graphic design or product design (Seidel et al, 2020; Verganti et al, 2020). Building on these developments, we conjecture AI can aid also in decision‐tasks a task associated with higher degrees of intractability, and complexity.…”