Are You Building Intelligence — or Renting It? Great Yield Today. No Future Tomorrow.

Who Is Your Supplier of Intelligence?

AI in game development reminds me of the “Terminator Seed” controversy in agriculture.

In 1998, Delta & Pine Land patented a technology later known as Terminator Seeds.

The idea was simple:
the first harvest would be strong, 
but the second generation of seeds would be sterile.

Farmers could grow a great crop once - 
but they could not use that crop to reproduce the next one.

They had to go back and buy again.
And again.
And again.

The product was strong.
The system of reproduction was broken.

The backlash was so severe that Monsanto publicly stepped away from commercializing the technology.

But the lesson remained:
dependency is far more profitable than ownership.

I see the same pattern now with AI in game development and IT.

Studios are optimizing for immediate output.
More content.
Faster production.
Fewer juniors.
Less mentorship.
Smaller training budgets.
Because AI can handle “entry-level work.”

But junior talent is not overhead.
It is the seed system.

It is how industries reproduce judgment, leadership, creative direction, and future senior talent.

If you break that cycle, you may win one quarter… and lose the next decade.

Then every future solution must be rented from the same companies selling you the tools.

That is not innovation.
That is dependency disguised as efficiency.
And dependency always gets more expensive.