AI in games might've just proven itself useful for a change—Activision claims Call of Duty's seen a 43% drop in 'disruptive voice chat' since the start of the year thanks to its robo-snitch

GamesFPSCall of DutyAI in games might’ve just proven itself useful for a change—Activision claims Call of Duty’s seen a 43% drop in ‘disruptive voice chat’ since the start of the year thanks to its robo-snitchWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

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AI in games is a weird subject—glassy-eyed,soulless neo-NPCs, hideous AI art slapped ontosocial media accountsand, thanks to the seemingly irresistible, gravitational allure of its power as a buzzword to sell software and tat, a lot of confusion as to what “AI-powered"actually means.

I’m on record as asceptic myself. While I think AI—that is, specifically, generative AI—doesn’t really have much to offer games in terms of writing or art, I must admit, with a mouthful of humble pie, thatActivision(of all the studios) might’ve stumbled onto a good use for it with the help of Modulate.

I saymight’veonly because it’s my job to be sceptical, and because these are all numbers from Activision itself, which has a clear and vested interest in wanting you to believe that it makes good decisions. Still, as per itstoxicity report blog post, the numbers are allegedly looking pretty good.

What’s more—and this is a big claim, which I again entreat you to handle with scepticism—ToxMod is able to listen to the tone of voice, allowing it to separate banter and genuine hate. It has a severity rating system too.

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There’s some other common-sense stuff, too. For example, if there’s a young-sounding person in chat, offences will be rated higher. Us grown adults can probably handle some bad words, but I think we can all agree that teaching little Timmy how to insult my sexuality with his whole chest probably isn’t great for our society on the whole.

There’s privacy concerns, sure—though while I’m not saying the situation’s great, we’re sort of beyond the pale at this point. Adverts are tailored to your search history, your data on any social media platform is cut up and sold to the highest bidder, and if you have a smartphone, chances are your exact location going backmonthsis available. All this to say, I think an AI-based reporting system is probably the least of our worries.

If Activision’s numbers are taken on good faith, it’s a solid trade-off. Call of Duty is one of the mostinfamously toxicgames when it comes to voice chat—whether that’s numerically true is another thing, but I’m of the opinion that a game generally gets a rep for such for a good reason. Easing up on the pressure of besieged mod teams and taking the responsibility for reportage out of players' hands so they can focus on, y’know, playing a game, instead of navigating report menus? That seems like a net good, and my hat is, reluctantly, tipped.

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