Fallout Co‑creator Leonard Boyarsky Says He’d “Smack His Former Self Upside the Head” for Past AI Comments — and Insists Obsidian Isn’t “Using It at All”

Boyarsky told Game File that those earlier remarks were more of a speculative thought experiment than a plan, and he now regrets them. He admits he’d “love to smack” his younger self “upside the head” for the comments, noting one major flaw: such a system “quickly gets very unwieldy.”

“You would have to have something that was so robust,” Boyarsky said, “and I don’t even know how you would test it.” As for whether Obsidian has trialed AI-assisted writing, veteran designer Josh Sawyer — lead on Fallout: New Vegas — replied, “I don’t know anything at studio level, but yeah, it’s not something we’ve used.” When Game File contacted Obsidian’s PR for clarification, the studio responded quickly: “We haven’t been using it at all.”

That stance aligns with growing caution among game creators about generative tools. Legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu recently said he’s “never used AI and probably never will,” calling it unrewarding. Patrick Söderlund, lead on Arc Raiders, argued that games “can’t be built by an AI” and expressed hope they never will. Motoi Okamoto, producer on the Silent Hill series, pointed to his new Konami title as an example of making bold creative choices “AI would never be able to make.”

Developers across the industry have been vocal about AI’s limits — and Boyarsky now counts himself among those skeptical voices.

Fallout co-creator Tim Cain explains the biggest RPG sins, including annoying NPCs, bad exposition, and those terrible escort missions: “‘This escort quest will be fun.’ They’d be wrong.”