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In an attempt to counter the notion that EA is replacing human labor with AI, CEO Andrew Wilson says the tech has somehow created more jobs within the publisher. As much appears to be what's happening in the QA department, at least.
He addressed concerns during Iicon, a games conference in Las Vegas organized by the Entertainment Software Association, the same outfit behind the now-defunct E3. "I saw some data recently, I think, now almost all – like 85% – of our quality assurance [work] is done with some kind of machine learning or AI-driven algorithm," he explains during an on-stage interview, per Game File.
"Yet as a company, we hire more QA people than we ever have," he adds. I have to say, that seems counter-intuitive to the whole workflow. Why bother with the new technology if it's requiring more hands on deck and not less? And isn't the whole pitch that it'll streamline processes? I digress, back to Wilson.
The jobs being given to AI are basic, according to him: "The simple stuff – turn the box on, turn the box off, boot it up, shut it down, does it crash, all these things."
Real people come in afterward to analyze the readouts and findings. Given the proclivity of hallucinations and simply bad data, this part seems intrinsic if you want quality assurance that actually assures quality.
When questioned about if AI is taking jobs at EA, or just augmenting them, Wilson says it's only mostly the latter at present. "So far, it's been almost entirely augmentation," he says.
Wilson previously stated that AI is at "the very core of our business" in 2024. Amid the announcement of the publisher's proposed buyout by a group of investors including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners last year, EA said it "will maintain a thoughtful, steady approach to AI."
There have been reports of EA bringing in chatbots for mandatory use across the business, including for HR and managerial matters. These claims remain unsubstantiated, but from what Wilson's said here, the tech is making its way into certain facets of the development pipeline, and that doesn't appear to be changing for the time being.
