ARC Raiders’ Steam AI disclosure and Embark design director Virgil Watkins’s comment that the game uses “no generative content whatsoever” address different things. Watkins was discussing the game’s visuals; Embark has also confirmed text-to-speech voices, and Steam’s broader disclosure says procedural and AI-based tools may assist with content creation.
What did the design director actually say?
In a November 3, 2025 interview with PCGamesN, Embark design director Virgil Watkins said ARC Raiders “in no way uses generative AI whatsoever.” The context was the game’s visuals. In the same interview, Watkins distinguished that claim from machine learning used for the locomotion of large, multi-legged drones, and confirmed that the studio uses text-to-speech for some voice lines.
So the quote should not be read as a claim that no AI-related tool appears anywhere in development or in the shipped game. It describes a narrower category and context than Steam’s disclosure.
What does Steam’s warning cover?
The ARC Raiders Steam listing says: “During the development process, we may use procedural- and AI-based tools to assist with content creation. In all such cases, the final product reflects the creativity and expression of our own development team.” The disclosure is broad and does not itemize which tools were used for which assets or lines.
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That wording can coexist with Watkins’s statement about visuals: Steam is describing possible procedural and AI-assisted development across content creation, while his quote addressed generative content in the game’s visuals. The available statements do not provide a complete inventory that would let readers map every tool to a specific shipped element.
Where Embark has confirmed AI-related use
Text-to-speech for some dialogue
Watkins said Embark uses the same text-to-speech model it uses for The Finals, with voice actors hired and contracted for that purpose. He described its use in the ping system, which can speak item names, location names, and compass directions without requiring a performer to record a new line for every newly added item or place. Embark CCO Stefan Strandberg separately characterized the audio as “a combination of recordings of real actors and TTS” in an October 2025 GamesRadar+ interview.
Machine learning for machine movement
Watkins described machine learning and reinforcement learning as tools for teaching larger ARC machines to walk. In a February 19, 2026 PC Gamer interview, he also described the use as teaching machines to walk and navigate, rather than generating their behaviors or attacks. This is a locomotion application, not evidence that enemy actions or dialogue are generated in the same way.
A weapon-model demonstration was research, not a shipped feature
Embark executive producer Aleksander Grøndal said the ability to make a weapon model from a YouTube video was “a research project” and “not something that we’re using in the game now,” according to Rock Paper Shotgun on October 29, 2025. That clarification applies to that example; it does not settle the separate questions about TTS, locomotion, or Steam’s general disclosure.
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What changed with AI voices after launch?
In March 2026, Embark CEO Patrick Söderlund said some AI voice lines had been re-recorded with human performers, leaving fewer AI lines than at release. He also said: “We pay our actors for all time spent with us in the booth and continue to bring many of them back as we carry on updating the game,” as reported by GameSpot on March 13, 2026.
This is a change in the game’s voice-line mix, not confirmation that all generated voices were removed. The Steam listing still displayed its AI Generated Content Disclosure when checked on October 7, 2026.
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How to read the apparent contradiction
| Statement or use | What it refers to | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Watkins’s “no generative AI whatsoever” comment | Generative content in the game’s visuals, in the context of the 2025 PCGamesN interview. | That no AI-related workflow is used for audio or development tools. |
| Steam AI Generated Content Disclosure | Procedural and AI-based tools may assist content creation; the listing does not give a tool-by-tool inventory. | That every asset or line was AI-generated. |
| Text-to-speech voices | Some voice lines, including flexible ping-system callouts; Embark says actors were contracted for this use. | That all game dialogue is synthetic. |
| Machine learning | Teaching large ARC machines locomotion and navigation. | That it authors their attacks or enemy behavior. |
| Video-to-weapon-model capability | A research project that Embark said was not being used in the game at the time. | That this capability shipped in ARC Raiders. |
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