Former id Software co-owner Tim Willits said the studio would “absolutely” have used generative AI if the technology had been available during its formative years. His comments matter because they add a prominent veteran game developer’s support to a continuing industry debate over whether AI should be treated as a practical production tool or a threat to creative work.

Willits portrayed id Software as a company that embraced technology which could help it make games, and suggested co-founder John Carmack would have pursued AI especially aggressively, joking that he might have created “Skynet”. The remarks concern hypothetical past use of generative AI rather than confirmation that id Software used such tools on its earlier games.