Borderlands 4 Developer Addresses AI Concerns: “No AI In Any Customer-Facing Work”
Public opinion on generative AI has taken a nosedive recently, and gamers seem to be among its most vocal critics. This sentiment put Gearbox Entertainment’s studio head, Randy Pitchford, in a tough spot when he shared some AI-generated content that didn’t sit well with fans of Borderlands 4. In response to the backlash, he clarified the studio’s stance on AI use, emphasizing a strict prohibition on incorporating it into any game-related work.
“ChatGPT has no information from me about anything from my work because I don’t use AI for work and our policy is no AI in any work that could ever be seen by any customer,” Pitchford stated on X. He made it clear that he was using his personal device, separate from work systems.
Pitchford described his use of ChatGPT as akin to a search engine, mentioning that he had recently experimented with image generation after seeing friends create AI-generated images of themselves. He shared a prompt asking for a picture of ChatGPT as if it were part of Gearbox.
However, the backlash intensified when he posted an AI-generated “selfie” based on his interactions with ChatGPT. “I asked my primary AI tool to generate a selfie that indicates how they feel based on how I interact with it and this is what it generated (note: background words were not prompted and have zero relationship to anything real),” he explained.
Reactions were overwhelmingly negative. One user remarked, “The only people that like AI are old people that don’t know the difference and executives that want to use it to reduce head count and cut costs.” Another expressed concern, stating, “This seriously makes me afraid your company is willing to use AI in the making of future games, and I will be seriously critical of any future Gearbox games directly because of this post.”
Despite Pitchford’s encouragement to “be cool and enjoy silly things,” fans of Borderlands 4 were particularly on edge after rumors surfaced that recent patch notes might have been AI-generated. An update blog post from April 30 included phrases like “The Rifts are meant to be scary, but not confusing!” and “We want fights to be both fair and fun.” The repetitive and generic language raised eyebrows on the Borderlands subreddit and X.
“Whole thing reads like it’s AI written I’m kinda stunned,” commented one player. Another noted, “I wasn’t really buying into the AI Patch Notes thing at first, but re-reading them now and they sound very very different from literally any other notes they’ve released so far.” Some even pointed out instances where the patch notes used incorrect terminology, such as “acid” instead of the correct in-game term “Corrosive.”
Pitchford’s AI post only added fuel to the fire of speculation. “Posting this right after people were questioning if the patch notes were AI is crazy,” remarked Borderlands streamer LilGasmask. This prompted Pitchford to reiterate the studio’s ban on AI for any consumer-facing content, explaining that he shared the image after having fun with friends generating “selfies,” a trend that seems to be gaining traction.
