Dead by Daylight dev is hiring for people with generative AI experience

Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive has raised some eyebrows among its player base with job listings that seek to hire programmers and artists who have "experience with generative AI." Gen-AI tools have been a hot-button topic in the game industry since their inception, raising questions around their use to replace human development work. Many players oppose games that employ generative AI in their development, standing in favor of hand-crafted art and animation. Naturally, then, these new listings, where Behaviour talks about "pushing the boundaries of what's possible with Generative AI and real-time graphics," have proved cause for concern.

In particular, two job listings from the Dead by Daylight studio have risen to attention, although neither specifically mention the horror game in their descriptions. The first is for a senior full-stack programmer, who will be tasked to "Develop backend and frontend features using generative AI." This means that, while they might not be directly working on DBD, it's likely that they'll be involved in the development of tech that could be used in the multiplayer game in the future.

In the grand scheme of generative AI, its use as a tool to assist in programming and development is among its less-controversial implementations, providing it's there to help debug and refine rather than build things from scratch. Creating art, assets, and other media with generative AI, however, is certainly something I'm not a fan of, and which you'll see dramatic pushback to from many players, and that's the case with the latter role.

The second listing is for a senior technical artist on an "unannounced project," working in production, art, and animation. "We are looking for a senior technical artist with strong programming and analytical skills to bridge the gap between cutting-edge Generative AI technologies and artistic workflows," Behaviour writes. "This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of art and technology, with a particular interest in evaluating and integrating Generative AI tools into the production pipeline in a responsible and ethical way."

It says the team is looking for someone who has "Hands-on experience with generative AI tools for video, image, or content creation (Stable Diffusion, ComfyUI)." It adds that the role will have the candidate "Analyse, test, and document the usefulness of generative AI-powered tools for tech art workflows (e.g. video, image, and content generation)," and "Collaborate with artists to prototype, build, and maintain creative solutions using generative AI and custom tools."

This has led to some initial outcry on the Dead By Daylight Reddit, "BHVR is saying proudly that they are using generative AI," one user writes. Some in the comments say they're okay with it being used to iron out some of DBD's technical troubles, with Behaviour recently pushing back updates to work on fundamental game improvements. Others express concern over what the artist role could mean, and whether it might have a detrimental pushback into Dead By Daylight.

We have reached out to Behaviour Interactive for comment on this story, and will update it with a response if provided.

In the meantime, we've got the latest details on the next DBD update release date, as well as an updated list of active DBD codes to grab free bonuses such as Bloodpoints and cosmetics.

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