Tony Stark relied on his ultra-polished, tech-heavy “Iron Man” suit to achieve his superhero feats.
Jack Buser, the global director for games at Google Cloud, thinks AI will help game developers in the same way.
“There will always be holdouts, just like every technological revolution, but it’s becoming so common now,” Buser told Business Insider. “We’re seeing a major shift.”
Buser and other tech industry leaders have said that implementing AI could transform how people work. In the gaming industry, the tech could help streamline operations, resulting in cost cuts, faster production times, or help developers tackle an array of tasks.
“It’s like the Iron Man suit of armor, right? It’s still you inside the suit of armor, but you’re suddenly able to do things that you couldn’t do before,” Buser said. “If you armor everybody up in your studio with suits that allow them to work more quickly and remove the drudgery, that tends to be well received after it’s been implemented.”
Buser urged executives at studios and companies to take the lead by giving developers the necessary tools.
“If you’re the CTO of a games company, make that suit of armor available. Make sure that it’s safe. Make sure that you take the time to work with people inside your company so that they can understand what the technology can and can’t do, and what your intentions for the technology are and what they are not,” Buser said.
“It has as much to do with getting these tools up and running in your development pipelines as it does working culturally with your company to help it make that transformation,” he added.
Getting comfortable with AI, he said, shouldn’t be confined to developers alone.
“It can be tricky at the executive level. You don’t have a crystal ball of where this is all going,” he said. “It takes getting your hands dirty, experimenting with the technology, seeing what it does and what it doesn’t do.”
Many global industries are undergoing a technological shift driven by advances in AI. Companies are increasingly adopting the tech in their workflows, which some critics say could diminish job prospects for humans. Supporters argue it’s a powerful tool that can help workers do their jobs better and faster.
For Buser, who has worked in the gaming industry for 30 years, AI has created an opportunity to push the boundaries of player experiences. At Google, that means embracing the era of “living games.”
The live games model, in which developers continue to add new content to a game after its initial release, is already common. AI, however, could make living games more adaptable, personalized, and immersive. The AI could also shorten update turnaround time, making the transition for players more seamless.
“As we look forward, we’re looking at things like real-time game experiences,” Buser said.
For now, though, the gaming industry will be focused on scaling and normalizing the tech.
“2026 is where companies start to scale these efforts,” Buser said. “Game developers who were using AI in one or two parts of their development workflow will suddenly be using it throughout their workflow. You’ll start to see games that are using multiple AI-based features that are affecting the player experience.”
