As for artist, it will be huge stab for them. And they are also needed for video games to be worked. you only see game = programmer in your statement above. Its not valid, half valid.
Point taken, that's true. I didn't mention the artistic side because it's not my field and didn't want to say something wrong but if a computer program (being it a procedural algorithm, a neural network or any other self-learning automatic software) can replicate what an artist does then that branch is also going to suffer losses unless those artists are able to build up a unique and/or recognizable style. That's what I refer to when I talk about Asian in general and Chinese action RPG copies in particular, they all look the same.
AI isn't going to disappear, people need to be aware of its advantages and disadvantages and, if you are going against it, find a way to differentiate from it. AI excels at logic so entry-level programmers at a high risk of, if not losing, not being able to find a job with their current skillset. However, the code generated by these tools often have slight problems. For example, some months ago we had to programmatically increase the size of every string field in a database from 256 to 1024 bytes and add some text to each of them. So, we used ChatGPT to generate a small program in C# to do that. At first glance the program did that, it read the database schema, then looped through every field and if it found a string field it would alter the column and modify the value. However, it didn't update the indexes. I mentioned that and ChatGPT drew a new program which would recreate the indexes after modifying the values. But again, now the program would create indexes even for fields that didn't have them before. I had to mention that again and this time it output the correct program. So, it's a powerful tool but which you must use with caution, this wasn't such a big deal but a junior might let worse bugs in. That's why AI can't right now replace a knowledgeable developer, it still needs to be overseen. And the prompts must be extremely careful or you might end up in a situation similar to the three wishes of a monkey's pawn.
What can an artist offer that an AI will have a hard time replicating?
diffusionx
mentioned that generative AI cannot create which at this moment is true, it can only apply patterns. If those patterns are "canon" it makes it easier for AI to build on top of it. For example, elves always have pointy ears, lean bodies, are usually blond and live for a millenia, dwarves are stout with big beards and carry an axe, dragons are serpent-like in Asian culture, lizard-like in western ones. If the game is based on fantasy and you have elves, dwarves and dragons the AI will be able to output stuff that, under consumer eyes, will match the output of artists in a matter of seconds drawing on millions of previous samples. For that to not happen the definition of "fantasy" should change, new races should be created, new lore should be created, etc. But then will gamers accept a fantasy realm without elves, without dwarves, without dragons where sertexes fight mastiphers riding smint-breathing pelipotes?
And game without art is like product without soul.
Kind of agree there, yet sometimes people go to McDonalds. Not every player is looking for the next Okami when playing.
Perceived risk of AI taking own job by users going to the "Will Robots Take My Job" website. Note is when ChatGPT was launched at 39% of average, now it's at 45%. I believe the best course of action is adopting and using it for your advantage, finding a way to exploit it. I give you this: it's kind of easy for a programmer to do that than for an artist. I have no idea how would I incorporate AI in an artistic workflow.