11 Bit confirm that they used generative AI for The Alters "in a very limited manner"

Well, that was quick. Following rumours last week and our own report just today, 11 Bit Studios have confirmed that they made use of generative AI tools in sci-fi management sim The Alters for the translation and localisation of what they say is a very small amount of text. They've also revealed that they used AI-generated assets as placeholders during development, but "in a very limited manner".

11 Bit argue that all of this represents "a limited impact on your gaming experience", but concede that they should have fessed up about it regardless. For context, the game launched on PC with no mention of any AI-generated material, including on Steam, where Valve requires developers to disclose such things.

All this comes in the form of a Bluesky post. "AI-generated assets were used strictly as temporary WIPs during the development process and in a very limited manner," it reads. "Our team has always prioritized meaningful, handcrafted storytelling as one of the foundations of our game.

"During production, an AI-generated text for a graphic asset, which was meant as a piece of background texture, was used by one of our graphical designers as a placeholder," the post continues. "This was never intended to be part of the final release. Unfortunately, due to an internal oversight, this single placeholder text was mistakenly left in the game."

You can find a screenshot of the asset in question below. 11 Bit say they have carried out a review of the game and "confirmed that this was an isolated case". The asset is now being updated.

The developers also confirm that The Alters has made use of AI translation or localisation. The game features parody licensed movies you can watch with your clones to boost their morale. These were externally produced, 11 Bit say, and required "last-minute" translations.

"Due to extreme time constraints, we chose not to involve our translation partners and had these videos localized using AI to have them ready on launch", the post goes on, while insisting that 11 Bit had always intended to have the relevant materials properly translated by agencies in the course of a localisation hotfix after release. The hotfix in question is now in development.

The developers conclude by noting that the external movies are "approx. 10k words out of 3.4 million across all languages in the game, or just 0.3% of the overall text". The alternative to using genAI to create them, 11 Bit argue, was to release the dialogue exclusively in English. They didn't want to do this, but now "acknowledge this was the wrong call" and that "no matter what we decided, we should have simply let you know".

I think the defence that the vast majority of The Alters was made the Old-Fashioned Way by tangible beings of flesh is fair enough. That said, I feel inclined to pass on Dordle developer Zaratustra's response to 11 Bit's statement: "If you feel 0.3% of the game's text is not a big deal to have generated with AI, which percentage would you draw the line at[?]"