EA’s goal to increase the use of AI in game development may not be going according to plan if a recent report is to be believed. Yesterday, EA announced its new partnership with Stability AI to “co-develop transformative AI models, tools, and workflows that empower our artists, designers, and developers to reimagine how content is built,” but according to a new report by Business Insider (via TechPowerUp), staff have already been on an unstable path with EA’s mandated AI use.
It was previously revealed that EA’s new owners hope to leverage AI to “boost EA’s profits in the coming years,” and a quick assumption on how this would come into play is by using AI in game development. Meanwhile, according to staff who asked to remain anonymous, EA has already been using AI for over a year for everything from administrative/managerial tasks, which include reporting and fiscal items, and even potential employee promotions to writing code or having in-house artists train AI using their own work.
As if this isn’t enough to put a scare into a worker who might be worried about training their own replacement or being evaluated or managed by it, some staff have said they’ve had to correct their new robot overlord’s flawed code when it “hallucinates”. However, according to the EA’s new press release, Stability AI will be a revolutionary new step forward for everyone, from gamers to its staff.
Per EA Press Release:
“With humans at the center of storytelling, we’re evolving how we work so that AI becomes a trusted ally: supporting faster iteration, expanding creative possibilities, accelerating workflows, and allowing more time to focus on what matters most – building world-class games and experiences that entertain massive online communities. It can draft, generate, and analyze, but it can’t imagine, empathize, or dream. That’s the work of EA’s extraordinary artists, designers, developers, storytellers, and innovators.”
Some industry insiders have suggested that there can be a more productive use of AI by integrating its use for more analytical purposes, rather than essentially trying to replace humans at every corner in an effort to cut costs. Such strategies could also see greater participation by staff to utilize AI tools to assist in meeting goals and deadlines instead of having to compromise their work or employment by using tools that may hamper progress or worse, stop it.
The report from Business Insider cited a meme that was said to have recently made rounds in an EA chatroom depicting a scene likely happening in nearly every game publishing boardroom on the planet:
- Man questioning CEOs: “What do you want?”
- CEOs overenthusiastically answered at once: “AI!”
- Man following up: “AI to do what?”
- CEOs: “We don’t know!”
- Man continues follow-up: “When do we want it?”
- CEOs: “Right Now!”
The joke is simple, and the message of disconnection is obvious, as executives focus on the bottom line.