Arc Raiders' killer robots aren't learning in real time, but Embark will sneak in AI upgrades based on player behavior: "We keep trying to make the flying drones better and better"

Arc Raiders' use of machine learning in the movements for several of its titular Arc machines has helped fuel conspiracy theories about the robots learning and adapting to player behavior in real time, despite developer Embark Studios repeatedly explaining that this is not how machine learning works in this application. But the folks at Embark, at least, do respond to player behavior and use it to make improvements to the Arc AI – perhaps unannounced. This has been on my mind ever since I