EA knows there are "fears" around AI - but wants to use it anyway

Despite being aware of the "fears around AI," EA's CEO says the company hopes to be able to use the technology anyway.

During a Q+A during the EA's financial results (transcribed via The Motley Fool), CEO Andrew Wilson was asked about the company's approach to AI. In response, Wilson said that the gaming industry is "probably going to be one of the greatest beneficiaries of AI," suggesting that the tech "will allow us to do what we currently do more efficiently."

Those 'efficiencies' will extend both the use of AI "to augment" EA's dev teams and "to allow AI to help our players and our fans create content in our world." Wilson seems to be targeting a bulk approach to AI, a vision of the tool that allows both EA developers and players to create more than before, drawing, as COO Laura Miele said in response to the same question, from the company's "rich library and history of assets."

For all that optimism however, Wilson was also clear on the downsides of AI. Touching on "bad actors using AI," he suggested EA will work with regulators - who are famously lagging behind when it comes to laws around AI - to help legislation "keep up" with the tech. More important, however, is the wave of potential layoffs that could come with a shift towards AI-generated art. "one of the things we are also very cognizant of is there are also fears around AI. The fear of displacement of the workforce is something that we read a lot about and we talk a lot about."

Wilson's philosophical approach to that idea - touching on "every revolution over the course of time," from the agricultural to the industrial - hinges on the idea that while thousands of people might lose their jobs as a result of AI, they'll benefit from "meaningful increases in workforce opportunities over the longer term." It's the (flawed) idea that if you lost your car manufacturing job to a robot, you could simply retrain as a robot technician and get a newer, better job instead.

EA isn't the first studio to espouse the benefits of AI. Just last week, the publisher of System Shock put forth some AI artwork, but was quick to face backlash from fans, not least because of that game's infamous evil artificial intelligence. 

Elsewhere during its investor report, EA discussed its indifference to the difficulties of the Microsoft-Activision merger, as well as the sales success of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.