Lucas Pope Hesitant to Share Projects Over AI Theft Fears

In a recent episode of the podcast Mike & Rami Are Still Here, hosted by indie veterans Mike Rose (of No More Robots) and Rami Ismail (formerly of Vlambeer), Pope revealed that while he enjoys discussing works in progress, the situation just feels different in today’s industry landscape. According to Pope, he feels uncomfortable announcing or talking about upcoming games because ideas and concepts are getting slurped up by AI or people are gonna copy it, or something else like that.

Pope emphasized this is not a hard rule and expressed hope he’ll eventually feel comfortable sharing projects again. For now, however, he intends to keep his next endeavors confidential.

Generative AI concerns aren’t Pope’s only motivation for secrecy. He also cited the difficulty of following up on two critically acclaimed titles. Pope stated he was pretty happy with Obra Dinn and Papers, Please and sometimes contemplates simply going out on a high note.

He acknowledged that his next project could be a total miss and expressed reluctance to push [his] luck too much. This combination of factors, fear of AI-driven idea theft and the pressure of maintaining a flawless creative legacy, has created a chilling effect on his public engagement.

Pope’s hesitation reflects a broader anxiety within the creative community about how generative AI tools could undermine intellectual property and artistic originality. His situation highlights a genuine tension for indie developers: the desire to build community excitement through transparency versus the risk of having concepts appropriated by AI systems trained on public information.

While Pope continues to release browser-based diversions, fans of his major works remain in a holding pattern. The developer hasn’t announced a full-scale project since Return of the Obra Dinn in 2018, making his next move one of the most anticipated unknowns in indie gaming.

Pope’s predicament underscores a larger challenge facing the creative industry as generative AI becomes increasingly sophisticated. His reluctance to share work-in-progress details, while understandable, also represents a loss for a community that thrived on his transparent development process.