Tommy Thompson
@tommy.aiandgames.com
That Scottish AI and games guy...
__
Founder of @aiandgames.com
Game AI Programmer & Consultant
Public speaker, educator, nuisance
BAFTA Connect
He-Him, PhD
--
Weekly Newsletter: aiandgames.com
YouTube: youtube.com/@aiandgames
__
Founder of @aiandgames.com
Game AI Programmer & Consultant
Public speaker, educator, nuisance
BAFTA Connect
He-Him, PhD
--
Weekly Newsletter: aiandgames.com
YouTube: youtube.com/@aiandgames
Pinned
Tommy Thompson
@tommy.aiandgames.com
· Jan 14
Can we just get back to everyone being annoyed at AI in games because the NPCs won't walk through the damn doors correctly?
I kinda miss those days.
I kinda miss those days.
Part 1 of the @aiandgames.com GOTY 2025 went live today. A nice mishmash of small indies, award darlings, and the big AAA releases of this year - plus a bunch of games that actually came out like two years ago.
If you're sitting up waiting on Santa, what better time to catch up with part I of our GOTY lists.
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social run through #10-#6 of their favourites, with the final five next week!
www.aiandgames.com/p/ai-and-gam...
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social run through #10-#6 of their favourites, with the final five next week!
www.aiandgames.com/p/ai-and-gam...
AI and Games GOTY [Part I] | 24/12/25
Tommy and Shraddha Share the First Half of Their GOTY Lists
www.aiandgames.com
December 24, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Part 1 of the @aiandgames.com GOTY 2025 went live today. A nice mishmash of small indies, award darlings, and the big AAA releases of this year - plus a bunch of games that actually came out like two years ago.
Gonna be online playing through some Terminator 2D: No Fate, plus unboxing the collector's edition that has been sitting at my desk the past couple of days. Exciting stuff...
youtube.com/live/HKLMrBH...
youtube.com/live/HKLMrBH...
Quick Look: Terminator 2D - No Fate
YouTube video by AI and Games Plus
youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Gonna be online playing through some Terminator 2D: No Fate, plus unboxing the collector's edition that has been sitting at my desk the past couple of days. Exciting stuff...
youtube.com/live/HKLMrBH...
youtube.com/live/HKLMrBH...
Well, throughly enjoyed Metroid Prime 4 until the last 5% of it.
Didn't mind much of the broader design changes - some work, some don't and like every entry in the series it has it's own flavour.
BUT... in classic series fashion the final boss is just infuriating and not fun. Consistency! 🤣
Didn't mind much of the broader design changes - some work, some don't and like every entry in the series it has it's own flavour.
BUT... in classic series fashion the final boss is just infuriating and not fun. Consistency! 🤣
December 23, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Well, throughly enjoyed Metroid Prime 4 until the last 5% of it.
Didn't mind much of the broader design changes - some work, some don't and like every entry in the series it has it's own flavour.
BUT... in classic series fashion the final boss is just infuriating and not fun. Consistency! 🤣
Didn't mind much of the broader design changes - some work, some don't and like every entry in the series it has it's own flavour.
BUT... in classic series fashion the final boss is just infuriating and not fun. Consistency! 🤣
I briefly came out of vacation hibernation today for a press interview.
We wound up talking about how much of a mess the AAA games industry is in right now that (generative) AI is seen by execs as the solution to the very problems it created for itself over the past 20-30 years.
We wound up talking about how much of a mess the AAA games industry is in right now that (generative) AI is seen by execs as the solution to the very problems it created for itself over the past 20-30 years.
December 22, 2025 at 11:52 PM
I briefly came out of vacation hibernation today for a press interview.
We wound up talking about how much of a mess the AAA games industry is in right now that (generative) AI is seen by execs as the solution to the very problems it created for itself over the past 20-30 years.
We wound up talking about how much of a mess the AAA games industry is in right now that (generative) AI is seen by execs as the solution to the very problems it created for itself over the past 20-30 years.
My last video for the year was compiling all the footage from us behind-the-scenes at this years @conference.aiandgames.com.
What an amazing couple of days with the brightest and best folk in Game AI - we focus only on the good stuff around here.
What an amazing couple of days with the brightest and best folk in Game AI - we focus only on the good stuff around here.
As we're wrapping up for the holidays, what better time to post our behind-the-scenes vlog from running this year's AI and Games Conference.
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us in London back in November, and we'll be announcing our 2026 plans soon!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3f5...
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us in London back in November, and we'll be announcing our 2026 plans soon!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3f5...
Behind the Scenes at the AI and Games Conference 2025
YouTube video by AI and Games
www.youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM
My last video for the year was compiling all the footage from us behind-the-scenes at this years @conference.aiandgames.com.
What an amazing couple of days with the brightest and best folk in Game AI - we focus only on the good stuff around here.
What an amazing couple of days with the brightest and best folk in Game AI - we focus only on the good stuff around here.
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
People deliberately conflating gen AI with NPC AI in games is just being a damned liar. I can understand people not getting the nuance between machine learning algorithms and LLMs, in part because that conflation is the fault of marketeers, but throwing NPC AI in there as well is deliberate.
December 22, 2025 at 1:05 PM
People deliberately conflating gen AI with NPC AI in games is just being a damned liar. I can understand people not getting the nuance between machine learning algorithms and LLMs, in part because that conflation is the fault of marketeers, but throwing NPC AI in there as well is deliberate.
If anything the nonsense AI hype has only increased the amount of work I'm doing.
There's so many established and applied usages of AI in game development - including generative models - that don't compromise ethics or degrade product.
And so our job is fighting to keep that message out there.
There's so many established and applied usages of AI in game development - including generative models - that don't compromise ethics or degrade product.
And so our job is fighting to keep that message out there.
I cannot imagine how much harder your job in particular has gotten over the last couple of years.
December 21, 2025 at 9:56 PM
If anything the nonsense AI hype has only increased the amount of work I'm doing.
There's so many established and applied usages of AI in game development - including generative models - that don't compromise ethics or degrade product.
And so our job is fighting to keep that message out there.
There's so many established and applied usages of AI in game development - including generative models - that don't compromise ethics or degrade product.
And so our job is fighting to keep that message out there.
This is exactly the kind of poor reporting on AI in game dev that reinforces the problem
For every person crying 'fuck AI' and the like you get these 'all games use AI' or 'it's just a tool' arguments.
I mean I know there's no nuance on socials but journalism should be held to a higher standard.
For every person crying 'fuck AI' and the like you get these 'all games use AI' or 'it's just a tool' arguments.
I mean I know there's no nuance on socials but journalism should be held to a higher standard.
incredibly fucked to compared the quantity of good game writers out of work atm with... whatever the fuck 2 dollar-an-article hack wrote this
December 21, 2025 at 7:42 PM
This is exactly the kind of poor reporting on AI in game dev that reinforces the problem
For every person crying 'fuck AI' and the like you get these 'all games use AI' or 'it's just a tool' arguments.
I mean I know there's no nuance on socials but journalism should be held to a higher standard.
For every person crying 'fuck AI' and the like you get these 'all games use AI' or 'it's just a tool' arguments.
I mean I know there's no nuance on socials but journalism should be held to a higher standard.
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
At this point, if you are not disclosing that you used AI, you know that your audience doesn't want it
December 21, 2025 at 12:30 PM
At this point, if you are not disclosing that you used AI, you know that your audience doesn't want it
Been on holiday for like, a day, and the discourse on AI in gamedev is very loud.
It's important to be angry, and be vocal but equally to be *informed*.
Know what to be angry about, what discourse is recycled and how we use AI regularly in games.
Shouting 'fuck AI in games' doesn't help.
It's important to be angry, and be vocal but equally to be *informed*.
Know what to be angry about, what discourse is recycled and how we use AI regularly in games.
Shouting 'fuck AI in games' doesn't help.
December 20, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Been on holiday for like, a day, and the discourse on AI in gamedev is very loud.
It's important to be angry, and be vocal but equally to be *informed*.
Know what to be angry about, what discourse is recycled and how we use AI regularly in games.
Shouting 'fuck AI in games' doesn't help.
It's important to be angry, and be vocal but equally to be *informed*.
Know what to be angry about, what discourse is recycled and how we use AI regularly in games.
Shouting 'fuck AI in games' doesn't help.
With both 'Thursday Murder Club' and 'Mickey 17' that's two for two this year where I read the book prior to seeing the movie adaptation and then came away disappointed.
Books man. They're pretty good.
Books man. They're pretty good.
December 20, 2025 at 10:05 PM
With both 'Thursday Murder Club' and 'Mickey 17' that's two for two this year where I read the book prior to seeing the movie adaptation and then came away disappointed.
Books man. They're pretty good.
Books man. They're pretty good.
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
Our final big meaty issue of the year is out!
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis [Part II] | 17/12/25
Sponsored by nunu.ai
www.aiandgames.com
December 17, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Our final big meaty issue of the year is out!
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
Well it's my birthday this week and I'm actually taking some time off.
In the meantime we've kicked off 50% off annual subs to @aiandgames.com meaning you can support us for like less £3/$4 a month.
Help us combat the nonsense AI hype and highlight the good work people do in the sector!
In the meantime we've kicked off 50% off annual subs to @aiandgames.com meaning you can support us for like less £3/$4 a month.
Help us combat the nonsense AI hype and highlight the good work people do in the sector!
December 4, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Well it's my birthday this week and I'm actually taking some time off.
In the meantime we've kicked off 50% off annual subs to @aiandgames.com meaning you can support us for like less £3/$4 a month.
Help us combat the nonsense AI hype and highlight the good work people do in the sector!
In the meantime we've kicked off 50% off annual subs to @aiandgames.com meaning you can support us for like less £3/$4 a month.
Help us combat the nonsense AI hype and highlight the good work people do in the sector!
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
And they are definitely not the tools sold to execs to cut down on production time, creativity time, and human labour (and costs) either.
Accudentally deleted my own post because I'm dumb. I initially wanted to add that there are cool things in genAI (that my more competent academic colleagues can talk aboit better than me) but they are not the tools sold to us as "the inevitable march of progress"
quanticfoundry.com/2025/12/18/g...
quanticfoundry.com/2025/12/18/g...
Gamers Are Overwhelmingly Negative About Gen AI in Video Games, but Attitudes Vary by Gender, Age, and Gaming Motivations.
Learn about how gender, age, and gaming motivations shape the perception of Gen AI in video games.
quanticfoundry.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
And they are definitely not the tools sold to execs to cut down on production time, creativity time, and human labour (and costs) either.
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
It's our end of year QnA livestream later today on YouTube (and Twitch.tv/aiandgames).
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
It's the @aiandgames.com end of year livestream this Friday at 4pm GMT.
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
AI and Games Wrapped 2025: End of Year Review & QnA
YouTube video by AI and Games
www.youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:23 AM
It's our end of year QnA livestream later today on YouTube (and Twitch.tv/aiandgames).
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
It's our end of year QnA livestream later today on YouTube (and Twitch.tv/aiandgames).
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
It's the @aiandgames.com end of year livestream this Friday at 4pm GMT.
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
AI and Games Wrapped 2025: End of Year Review & QnA
YouTube video by AI and Games
www.youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:23 AM
It's our end of year QnA livestream later today on YouTube (and Twitch.tv/aiandgames).
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
4pm GMT / 11am EST / 8am PST
We will be wrapping up the year and having a right good blether.
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
This is a fantastic write up about the state of game AI as a field across academia and industry and it really is bleak out there as someone in industry who is one of the only people on my team that does game AI among my other narrative duties
Our final big meaty issue of the year is out!
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis [Part II] | 17/12/25
Sponsored by nunu.ai
www.aiandgames.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:06 PM
This is a fantastic write up about the state of game AI as a field across academia and industry and it really is bleak out there as someone in industry who is one of the only people on my team that does game AI among my other narrative duties
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
Still time to buy your loved ones a copy of Into the Restless Ruins for Xmas!
Available digitally for all current gen platforms, and also physically for PS5!
Available digitally for all current gen platforms, and also physically for PS5!
We've updated our page with the new @GamesRatingUK info for Into The Restless Ruins from @AntWorkshop. PEGI 7 & ESRB EVERYONE 10+. A single-player Adventure-Creative-Sequencing game for PC, PS5, Switch & Xbox X|S. www.familygamingdatabase.com/game/Into+Th...
Into The Restless Ruins - PC, PS5, Switch and Xbox X|S - Kids Age Ratings - Family Gaming Database
Into The Restless Ruins is a dungeon-building action game where you create and then enter a dungeon night after night. You play cards with...
www.familygamingdatabase.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Still time to buy your loved ones a copy of Into the Restless Ruins for Xmas!
Available digitally for all current gen platforms, and also physically for PS5!
Available digitally for all current gen platforms, and also physically for PS5!
My last main newsletter of the year: part 2 of Game AI's Existential Crisis
In short: the games industry fails to sustain meaningful educational outlets, and relies heavily on individuals to prop up our knowledge exchange mechanisms.
And Game AI is suffering because of it.
In short: the games industry fails to sustain meaningful educational outlets, and relies heavily on individuals to prop up our knowledge exchange mechanisms.
And Game AI is suffering because of it.
Our final big meaty issue of the year is out!
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part II) is now live. In this chapter @tommy.aiandgames.com explores how Game AI education is a fractured knowledge space propped up by a handful of individuals.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis [Part II] | 17/12/25
Sponsored by nunu.ai
www.aiandgames.com
December 17, 2025 at 5:27 PM
My last main newsletter of the year: part 2 of Game AI's Existential Crisis
In short: the games industry fails to sustain meaningful educational outlets, and relies heavily on individuals to prop up our knowledge exchange mechanisms.
And Game AI is suffering because of it.
In short: the games industry fails to sustain meaningful educational outlets, and relies heavily on individuals to prop up our knowledge exchange mechanisms.
And Game AI is suffering because of it.
The context is valuable - and it is what I expected - but the well is so thoroughly poisoned on the use of (generative) AI in creative industries that saying *anything* without a meaningful deep dive (which will still piss people off) was a bad move.
Talking about AI is a huge PR issue.
Talking about AI is a huge PR issue.
If I had known the two paragraphs about genAI in my article today would be so controversial, I would have expanded them a bit! Here's a rough transcript of the relevant portion of my interview with Swen Vincke, so everyone has all the context. (Full article here: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...)
December 17, 2025 at 11:35 AM
The context is valuable - and it is what I expected - but the well is so thoroughly poisoned on the use of (generative) AI in creative industries that saying *anything* without a meaningful deep dive (which will still piss people off) was a bad move.
Talking about AI is a huge PR issue.
Talking about AI is a huge PR issue.
Fuck.
That.
Shit.
That.
Shit.
December 17, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Fuck.
That.
Shit.
That.
Shit.
I am so very tired...
But I'm proud of everything we've done at @aiandgames.com this year. So let's wrap things up with our annual WRAPPED livestream:
- We walk through everything we've done.
- What to expect in 2026
- Plus answer your questions.
Join us on Friday at 4pm GMT for all the bants!
But I'm proud of everything we've done at @aiandgames.com this year. So let's wrap things up with our annual WRAPPED livestream:
- We walk through everything we've done.
- What to expect in 2026
- Plus answer your questions.
Join us on Friday at 4pm GMT for all the bants!
It's the @aiandgames.com end of year livestream this Friday at 4pm GMT.
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
AI and Games Wrapped 2025: End of Year Review & QnA
YouTube video by AI and Games
www.youtube.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I am so very tired...
But I'm proud of everything we've done at @aiandgames.com this year. So let's wrap things up with our annual WRAPPED livestream:
- We walk through everything we've done.
- What to expect in 2026
- Plus answer your questions.
Join us on Friday at 4pm GMT for all the bants!
But I'm proud of everything we've done at @aiandgames.com this year. So let's wrap things up with our annual WRAPPED livestream:
- We walk through everything we've done.
- What to expect in 2026
- Plus answer your questions.
Join us on Friday at 4pm GMT for all the bants!
Reposted by Tommy Thompson
It's the @aiandgames.com end of year livestream this Friday at 4pm GMT.
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
AI and Games Wrapped 2025: End of Year Review & QnA
YouTube video by AI and Games
www.youtube.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
It's the @aiandgames.com end of year livestream this Friday at 4pm GMT.
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
@tommy.aiandgames.com and @shraddhagupta.bsky.social will discuss our work in 2024, plus our conference, Goal State and more.
All this plus an audience QnA as well.
We'll see you there!
www.youtube.com/live/MiLKzb7...
I know you know how stupid content ID is but...
It's December 2025, and YouTube still thinks I own the copyright to the opening cinematic for Left 4 Dead.
I've only told them *several times* this is not mine, but hey, new copyright flags hit my account every other week.
It's December 2025, and YouTube still thinks I own the copyright to the opening cinematic for Left 4 Dead.
I've only told them *several times* this is not mine, but hey, new copyright flags hit my account every other week.
December 16, 2025 at 9:14 AM
I know you know how stupid content ID is but...
It's December 2025, and YouTube still thinks I own the copyright to the opening cinematic for Left 4 Dead.
I've only told them *several times* this is not mine, but hey, new copyright flags hit my account every other week.
It's December 2025, and YouTube still thinks I own the copyright to the opening cinematic for Left 4 Dead.
I've only told them *several times* this is not mine, but hey, new copyright flags hit my account every other week.