You’d think that an “ecosocialist utopia” game made by a prominent leftist game developer who developed it “with locally sourced talent and minimal involvement from capitalists, marketers, or profiteers” would be free of generative AI, right?
…Right?
Released in September, Future? No Thanks! is an adventure game developed by Paolo Pedercini, better known by the pseudonym Molleindustria. It follows an out-of-place, curmudgeonly old man who aims to complete his bucket list before undergoing assisted suicide in a future where “climate change is finally being tackled, democracy thrives, and technology serves the public good.”
However, it’s now in hot water over initially undisclosed generative AI use. In a blog post this week (thanks, Rock Paper Shotgun), Pedercini confirmed that the game includes AI-generated content, including two text-to-speech voices and two music loops generated with Suno, despite later writing that “AI is a technofascist, anti-human and anti-art project.” He also mentioned that “a tiny fraction” of code was debugged with ChatGPT and Claude.
On Friday, he posted another blog post to clarify that the AI content (aside from the code) has been removed from the game. He defended his use of AI, mentioning that the music loops were “supposed to make fun of losers who listen to slop” in early demos and that the AI voices were “funnier in that context.”
“In my opinion the game is worse now, but only, like, 0.001% worse,” he wrote.
Pedercini is now offering refunds to those who purchased the game and “still feel betrayed” via Paypal and Venmo, which is thoughtful, I guess, and Pedercini did mention that he’s decided his next game will be entirely hand-coded. But, for me, this offer is pretty much entirely overshadowed by the fact that it’s buried in an overly sarcastic blog post that’s speckled with AI apologia:
“How dare I make a communist game with the master’s tools? Would I eat a sandwich if it had ONLY A LITTLE POOP in it? Am I satirizing the puppy killing machine by KILLING PUPPIES?”
What’s especially weird about this is that Pedercini is known for his expansive library of quirky browser games that let you do things like boo at the Confederate flag, explore Soviet workers’ clubs, and run The New York Times while aiming to sate Israel and the rich. Literally none of these games are subtle about their politics, which is why it’s so strange to see Pedercini celebrate a socialist, eco-friendly world while using the exact tools that threaten this future.
I also have to point out that AI can still be satirized without using AI. Hell, even It’s Always Sunny did it.