Of course, we are looking to apply similar concepts to assets as well with things like focal points and shape language being part of your inputs.

Computer interfaces for many years have been dictated by how data flows within a system rather than how humans solve problems. We didn’t want to perpetuate that. We want to build technology that doesn’t require you to know anything about technology and everything about your domain – art. We do believe that being built by artists and for artists makes a difference.

The tidy room feature is extremely unusual. Are there experiments with other similar abstract notions?

Yes, very much so. One of our core mantras is “high-level creative intent immediately translated into actionable 3d content”. As an artist when looking at a space you don’t think “I wish the lamp was at coordinate xyz”. You think “I wish this space was messier, had more ‘sport stuff’ in it and clearly showing that the character inhabiting the space is into music”. While this is not fully implemented we have all of the underlying technology for you to say I want a space that is 10% sporty, 50% musical and 33% messy. That is essentially the type of feedback you might get from an Art Director. And you are Promethean’s Art Director so that’s how you interact with it.

What about restrictions? Is the system limited to smaller spaces? Can it work with natural environments? Can it study games?

We are starting with man-made interior spaces because, while we can quite plausibly get away with generated natural biomes based on procedural randomization, the amount of complexity and interconnectedness in semantically rich human spaces is something that is absolutely infeasible to do procedurally. But as we grow and scale we will definitely be moving out to every type of space. Our patent-pending learning algorithm is built from the ground up to scale all the way from a bolt holding together a bed frame to the entire city that the bed is in.

And yes we can very much study entire games and offer that as an option to our early adoption partners where we can pre-learn their previous projects so that when they start on with Promethean it will already have adopted some of the choices and traits specific to their team.

What do you think the future of game development looks like and what would you say to those who are worried that progress will jeopardise their jobs?

First of all I’d say “definitely keep being critical”. This is no laughing matter and whoever does this deserves all the scrutiny you are going to put them under. The gravity of the implications of this technology is strongly etched into our minds and we hold ourselves to the same highest level of scrutiny on this subject every single day, so there is no reason you shouldn’t. You don’t owe us your trust and for all intents and purposes, we as individuals are irrelevant to this conversation. All we seek to do is build technology that will empower and inspire, that will help creative people and give them the economic independence to do it on their own terms should they so desire. And the manifestation of this is the product we build. And you have every right to judge us on that. But before we can get that product into your hands all we can do is our best to give you regular updates like this to help you form an idea of what that product is and what it stands for. So that you can form an informed opinion.