Future? No Thanks! dev removes AI-generated voices from game and offers refunds to players who feel "betrayed"

The open world ecosatire game Future? No Thanks! has been updated to remove some AI-generated voices, according to lead developer Paolo Molleindustria Pedercini. He had previously disclosed his use of the technology, but after facing backlash and media coverage, he has decided to remove the two instances of text-to-speech generated voice work for in-game robot characters.

Pedercini offered refunds to players who still feel betrayed by this decision. He later explained that he used AI-generated voices as a spoof of generative AI, but the new generation of text-to-speech now counts as user-facing AI-generated content, creating annoyances and bad optics. Despite still believing the voices should stay in the game, Pedercini acknowledged that it is worse now, but only minimally.

He also made changes to the game to give players more money, preventing soft-locking situations. Pedercini blamed the backlash on social media, drawing comparisons to the Gamergate hate campaign. He ended by sharing a list of developers who have sworn off generative AI, encouraging others to support these developers.