EA's heavy use of game dev AI tools is reportedly causing issues and concern for employees

Electronic Arts' aggressive push to integrate artificial intelligence across its operations is reportedly creating significant friction between management and employees, with workers raising concerns about flawed tools and potential job displacement.

The details:

• As reported by Business Insider, EA leadership has been urging employees to use AI for almost every task, even allegedly forcing some teams to complete training courses for the controversial tools. It’s claimed that AI is not only used to assist with monotonous work but also to code games, create artwork, and even generate notes in meetings involving sensitive information. “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,” Business Insider has revealed. “Another guides employees on how to phrase constructive questions when a sought-after promotion is denied.”
• Unsurprisingly, such heavy AI use has not been met with a positive response from employees, with staff reporting several issues with the quality of the overall output. It’s said that “ReefGPT,” EA's in-house chatbot, and other AI tools often produce poor-quality code and "hallucinations" that need to be altered manually each time. As a result, the AI mandate has now resulted in increased workloads for some staff.
• Some employees are understandably concerned about the potential impact that the tools could have on their positions. Artists and other creative staff are allegedly being told to train AI on their work, sparking fears that their roles may one day be eliminated. For example, a former senior QA designer at Respawn has explained that as AI was able to summarize feedback from playtesters, they were subsequently let go from the studio last year.
• There has been a significant increase in AI use in all industries, but the creative nature of video games has led to backlash from players. Notably, Activision Blizzard has already publicly confirmed that it has used generative AI to create content for Call of Duty, while parent company Microsoft is reportedly pushing a similar AI mandate to EA’s on employees at Candy Crush developer King.