‘AI Can Speed Up Game Development But Human Intention Is What Makes Our Stuff Special’, Says Director Todd Howard
Bethesda Game Studios’ Head and long time game director for The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield, Todd Howard, has weighed in on one of the most transformative debates shaping modern game production: the role of AI in development. During a preview event promoting Season 2 of Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout series, which premieres on December 17, Howard spoke with Eurogamer about how AI is being positioned inside Bethesda and the broader industry.
Howard described AI as a meaningful accelerator in production pipelines but stressed that it must never displace the human creativity that defines great game design. For Bethesda, AI is not viewed as a generator of autonomous content but rather as a supporting tool that improves iteration speed and assists with world building and quality verification processes.
“I view it as a tool. Creative intention comes from human artists number one. But we look at it as a tool for whether we can use it to help us go through some iterations that we do ourselves faster. Not in generating things, but we are always working on our toolset for how we build our worlds or check things,” Howard explained.
He further compared AI assisted workflows to upgrading creative software, noting that no artist would willingly return to ten year old versions of applications like Photoshop. “We want to protect the artistry. The human intention of it is what makes our stuff special.”
Howard’s perspective aligns with the viewpoint of Hideo Kojima, who recently framed AI as a “friend” capable of reducing repetitive workloads so that developers can concentrate on high level creative direction.
In an environment where triple A budgets continue to rise and development cycles grow longer, efficiency has become an existential priority for publishers. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson previously emphasized that efficiency, expansion, and transformation are the three innovation pillars being amplified by AI. Yet as Howard reiterated, these gains cannot come at the cost of the creative identity of the teams behind the games.
As a final note in the interview, Howard shared his personal pick for Game of the Year, joining the growing number of industry creatives who selected Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
What do you think about Todd Howard’s stance? Should AI accelerate workflows while human creativity remains central, or should AI take a larger role in game production?
