id's Former Co-Owner Says They'd Absolutely Have Used Gen AI Back in the Day

• Source: PC Gamer (Gamescom 2026, interview by Joshua Wolens)
• Verdict: promote-to-tech
• Why: Tim Willits, who ran id Software through the Quake-and-beyond era and is now at Saber Interactive pushing his "Rideshare Simulator" with gen AI in it, told PC Gamer at Gamescom that id absolutely would've used the exact same tools back in the day — id's whole thing was adopting whatever new tech was fastest, so AI to generate assets and fill the world would've been a no-brainer. The punchline everyone grabbed: "John Carmack would be like making Skynet or something." It's the standard "every old dev would've used this if we had it" defense, which is true and also exactly what every studio says right before the asset pipelines get gutted. The quote that should matter more than the joke: it's not remotely a coincidence that the guy whose name you attach to "we all would've done it" is Carmack, the person people point to as proof that technical maximalism is good. The uncomfortable part nobody dwells on is that the classic id mover (Carmack) mostly wants nothing to do with this particular gold rush.