It’s reported that executives are forcing EA employees to use in-house AI tools, only to correct its flaws and hallucinations.
A new report from Business Insider has revealed the challenges and extra work that EA employees are met with when using Electronic Arts’ new AI development tools.
Described by executives as a “thought partner”, the EA AI tool called ReefGPT is riddled with faulty code and “hallucinations” that EA developers have to fix themselves. Costing additional resources and money rather than developing from scratch.
Some Electronic Arts staffers who spoke with Business Insider under the condition of anonymity say the AI tools they’re encouraged to use, including the company’s in-house chatbot ReefGPT, produce flawed code and other so-called hallucinations that they need to correct. Others say that creative staff are expected to train AI programs on their own work, and that they fear the technology will ultimately slash demand for talent, such as character artists and level designers.
– Business Insider
Considering that the integration of AI tools within the EA development studios has only started last year, it’s expected that it would cause major mistakes. Especially as the AI tools are only getting started with harvesting EA’s creative team input and work. Causing fear that the technology would only get better and replace demand for game development talent.
At Electronic Arts, maker of “The Sims,” “Madden NFL,” and several other megapopular video-game franchises, leadership has spent the past year urging its nearly 15,000 employees to use AI for just about everything — from creative projects like cranking out code and concept art to managerial work like scripting conversations with direct reports about sensitive topics such as pay and promotions, Business Insider has learned.
– Business Insider
If you’re wondering if this has any impact on the quality control and assurance of EA’s games – it does. A person who worked at EA was recently laid off after being replaced by AI that was able to continue his part of the work – reviewing and summarizing feedback from playtesters.
One recently laid-off Electronic Arts employee, who held a senior quality-assurance design position, says that AI was able to perform a key part of his job — reviewing and summarizing feedback from hundreds of play testers. He suspects that this was at least partly why he was among about 100 of his colleagues who were let go this past spring from the company’s Respawn Entertainment studio.
– Business Insider
There are still major mistakes that EA’s ReefGPT AI Chatbot is making. Essentially being affirmative to negative situations and vice versa:
Employees in some areas of the business are expected to complete multiple AI training courses, use AI tools daily to accelerate their work, and view generative AI as a “thought partner,” internal documents show. One sample chatbot prompt advises managers on how to talk to a direct report whose performance is negatively affecting business results but who believes otherwise. Another guides employees on how to phrase constructive questions when a sought-after promotion is denied.
– Business Insider
You can read the full report from Business Insider about the state of AI in EA’s development team and more professional research regarding it here.
It can only go more downhill from this point on for the developers. Two days ago it was announced that EA is partnering with Stability AI to enroll more tools and options for feeding artificial intelligence with developer’s own work.
What are your thoughts on the latest report? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more EA news.
AI certainly reduces costs and can replace a human, but before criticizing, remember one thing, today, when you buy a game, part of what you pay is used to pay the salaries of the production teams, by boycotting, there will be even less money earned by EA, and you will participate in the layoffs which will be even more numerous to fill this shortfall because of your boycott, I do not deny that AI can do things to replace a human, but here we are talking about 15,000 employees, everything is not gray or blue, there will be layoffs, bioware will close, they are not profitable, the sims 4 will perhaps have fewer employees, but I fear that your boycott will only amplify the layoffs because what you will no longer pay will not be able to be paid as salaries to the teams that will remain, and I find that very sad, this situation, I think that in any case Anyway, the Sims 4 will die in 2 or 3 years given how things are going.
They will move on to other games like the rene project which will take over, or choose other areas of video games , I think their current decisions herald big changes and probably the end of the sims 4 sooner than we think.
You again?
And if all this was a choice of EA, the buyout and the AI to change direction and no longer make simulation games, invest elsewhere, stop the rene project, the sims 4 is a very old game to be efficient with the AI, it seems to me that it is too late, if we were told that the sims 4 ends in 2027, It would be a very sad end, the game is in any case apart from a few missing leisure activities (sewing, dancing and music group), almost complete now.