Erik Wolpaw: Valve Explores AI, But Creative Writing Is Safe For Now

In 2026, artificial intelligence has become a dominant topic. From the controversy surrounding DLSS 5 to the use of generative AI in art assets for Pearl Abyss's Crimson Desert, the subject is inescapable within and beyond the video game industry. Recently, renowned Valve writer Erik Wolpaw shared his perspective.

The co-writer for Half-Life 2 and Portal appeared on the March 19th episode of the MinnMax Show, where he had the opportunity to discuss the current use of AI tools and the stance of Valve, a notoriously secretive developer. Although Wolpaw left the company in 2017 to co-write the story for Psychonauts 2, he later returned to Valve as a contractor for the VR-exclusive spin-off Half-Life: Alyx.

Wolpaw disclosed that a "small group of people" at Valve has "been looking into some AI technologies," and this process has "taught him a few things." However, he emphasized that he is "not worried about AI taking over creative writing" in the near future. In his view, artificial intelligence remains poor at conceiving and delivering the compelling narratives that resonate with most people: "I'm not just saying that defensively. We've really been messing around with it. And like art, there's a lot of questions about that, but I don't think it's going to – anytime soon – be writing novels that are better than human."

Nevertheless, he is at least partially interested in how AI could potentially assist with less complex writing for characters that react to player actions (which brings to mind the discussions about generative AI NPCs that have yet to lead anywhere substantial). He elaborated: "If you throw enough artists at a game, enough humans can create the art for a game or almost any of the disciplines. The thing with game writing, and game writing specifically, is that we have always had to simulate... characters in the game reacting to whatever you do in real-time."

While Wolpaw believes these areas are "worth investigating" over time, he also quickly clarified that Valve is not incorporating any AI-generated elements into their games, at least not right now: "This is just some people sitting around, being like, 'This is a crazy technology – it would be kind of silly for us not to look into it at least.'" This mirrors Capcom's stance, with the key distinction being that the Japanese giant has already officially announced its intent to use AI to boost productivity.

Valve is known for its rather "relaxed" approach to creative thinking and development within the company, whether concerning software or hardware. Many ideas are discussed for years or discarded during the prototyping phase, so the current situation isn't a major surprise. Will this lead to anything significant? Time will tell, but the outlook for "AI slop" currently seems bleak.