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Speaking during a Q&A session following its latest financial results briefing, Wilson was asked how EA was planning to implement AI in development going forwards.

Wilson replied that the company was already starting to use AI in some aspects of development, citing the EA Sports FC series as an example. According to Wilson, AI lets developers make football stadiums much quicker and add a wider variety of animations.

“As a company, we’ve been deeply tied to AI since our inception,” Wilson explained. “It has been the very center of all of the games that we create, replicating human intelligence in the context of a game play experience. But certainly, as we think about the wave of generative AI today and as it merges into artificial general intelligence, broadly, we’re still very early.

“But the things I talked about in the conference were really both two-fold. One, how do we get more efficient? The stat I used was we’ve moved from being able to create stadiums from 6 months to 6 weeks. And my expectation is that will continue to shrink over time.

“Maybe even more profound than that – when we build a game we have animation and run cycles. In FIFA 23, we had 36 run cycles, which gave you a kind of believability of human performance inside of that game. When we launched EA Sports FC 24, we had 1,200 run cycles.

“This adds to the individuality and uniqueness of each player, and delivers our players more immersion in the game, a more engaging experience that is more true to what they watch on television on a Sunday afternoon.

“And so as we think about the first pillar of generative AI for us, we’re really looking at how can it make us more efficient, how can it give our developers more power, how can it give them back more time and allow them to get to the fun more quickly.”

Wilson went on to suggest that more than half of EA’s developmental processes could be enhanced by generative AI in the future, and that the plan is to transform the development process within the next five years.

“We’ve done analysis across all of our development processes, and right now, based on our early assessment, we believe that more than 50% of our development processes will be positively impacted by the advances in generative AI,” Wilson stated. “And we’ve got teams across the company really looking to execute against that.

“The second phase for us, of course, is how do we further expand our games? How do we build bigger worlds with more characters and more interesting story lines?

“If efficiency starts to really take place over the next 1-3 years, our expectation is that, over a 3- to 5-year time horizon, we will be able to, as part of our massive online communities and blockbuster storytelling, build bigger, more immersive worlds that engage more players uniquely around the world. And we think about that on a 3- to 5-year time horizon.

And perhaps on a 5+ year time horizon, we think about how do we take all of those tools we create and offer those to the community at large so that we can actually get new and interesting and innovative and different types of game experiences? Again, not to replace what we do but to augment, enhance, extend, expand the nature of what interactive entertainment can be in much the way YouTube did for traditional film and television.

“One of the great advantages, of course, we have is we do have 40 years of data. And so as I think about efficiency over 1-3 years, expansion over 3-5 years, transformation on a 5-year time horizon, it’s actually very plausible that with 40 years of owned data that we have to feed into these models, we actually might be able to accelerate that time frame.

“And I would tell you, there is a real hunger amongst our developers to get to this as quickly as possible because, again, the holy grail for us is to build bigger, more innovative, more creative, more fun games more quickly so that we can entertain more people around the world on a global basis at a faster rate.”

EA CEO says there’s a “real hunger” among developers to use AI to speed up development | VGC

More than half of EA’s development processes can be “positively impacted” by AI…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

“And so as we think about the first pillar of generative AI for us, we’re really looking at how can it make us more efficient, how can it give our developers more power, how can it give them back more time and allow them to get to the fun more quickly.”

You're a CEO focused on making money. "Get to the fun" for you means sending them out of their jobs when AI replaces them. Would anyone expect a CEO to NOT say that their employees are pumped for AI? LOL

 

[winjer]

I think what he means is that there is a hunger among CEOs to cut development cost, so they can increase their own bonus.

 

[GigaBowser]

more people lays off

 

[omegasc]

yes, because their CEOs keep telling them they have to use it

 

[FunkMiller]

Oh look, another cancerous CEO only doing what's good for him and his executive mates.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

I think what he means is that there is a hunger among CEOs to cut development cost, so they can increase their own bonus.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Define “developers.”

Because I don’t believe you’re regarding the 70% of your staff you want to unload after adopting AI.

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

 

[leizzra]

As much as I'd like AI to make few things quicker and less tedious, I don't think that CEO of EA has the same things in mind ;P.

From my point of view AI would be good for making automatic low poly mesh or UV mapping. For now its quite boring part of creating characters but very important. In the end this is what you see in the game. There are options to make it quicker but usually they are far from perfect and not as automatic as I'd like. This would speed up the process or give us more time for creative part.

Also AI could help with quick skinning the meshes. I have enough of tech animators that make poor skinning and then models look worse when they are animated.

But as I wrote CEO probably thinks about how it can replace some of the employees and how it can speed up the whole process (like make concept art quickly) so that in the end development will be cheaper and they can sell more games.

 

[Majukun]

yeah...no.

 

[Dazraell]

Question is if that hunger is stronger among developers or among executives? I think this makes a big difference

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I don't think this villain has a fucking clue what is spilling out past his teeth and lips.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

He means there a hunger among greedy CEOs like him who want to use AI to replace devs and maximize profits.

 

[crackajack]

Certainly sounds like a CEO statement.
I would assume the majority of (eg texture) artists is scared for their future and already learning other stuff if not totally ignorant to looming developments, and only a few, those who probably already use it will be winners, but only for some time, until every Jo Schmo without any actual talent or knowledge with photoshop to correct the various errors in the used style can use it and will replace those dudes. The programmers for AI will also make some money until they get replaced by AI programmers improving their work... anyone who follows what Stable Diffusion etc can do knows the immediate thread it is for any aspiring artist that is not really exceptional and already established in galleries with rich fans. The future will be a massacre way beyond just that group though. Mediocre dialog in massive open worlds can easily be written by chatgpt on the same level. Voice acting for actual people is dead, only stars Kojima likes to hire might survive if that cost factor is allowed in the future. AI-bots doing some QA jobs, testing all sorts of monotone nonsense most humans would not even think of trying.
Very much like the massive automation in the automotive industry it will replace a ton of jobs, or customer service in banking being replaced with e-banking, or self checkout in shops removing workplaces that are essentially pointless.
Computers and www were massive, but AI will disrupt society maybe even more because there will hardly be winners.

 

[Sethbacca]

AI will be making development easier so they can scale down to smaller teams and still take the same amount of time to get the game done while increasing the CEO salary and shareholders profits. Doubt it will do much to actually improve the state of the industry.

 

[Complistic]

It's awesome that there's so many great games, that I never need to play anything EA releases.

 

[Roman Empire]

I'm all in for AI to help alleviate the pressure on devs but we know very well the upper manegment wants to cut costs with AI tools. It's not about better and faster dev cycles with more humane-friendly environments, it is all about the money.

 

[th4tguy]

CEOs are not talking to actual devs. They are talking to managers and at the very least project managers.
They are foaming at the mouth for ai assisted tools.

 

[Saber]

These guys are way too hungry with money.
The end result would be the same, only difference is that they gonna make cash grab mechanic games developed by AI.

 

[ReBurn]

CEOs are not talking to actual devs. They are talking to managers and at the very least project managers.
They are foaming at the mouth for ai assisted tools.

Developers need to start embracing generative AI as a tool to help them work smarter. It's not going away. The robots are already faster at writing code and the code that the best models generate is clean, well-formed, and tends to follow standards and best practices.

Devs who fight it instead of learning to use it are going to end up taking a principled stance in the unemployment line. Besides, the value of a good developer is their ability to solve problems and create solutions. The ability to write code isn't what's valuable these days.

 

[Little Chicken]

Disregarding the obvious thirst for slimming dev costs, one area where I hope AI can really help is with lip-synching. So many new games are still so bad at it.

 

[Portugeezer]

Ah yes, more time, AKA fewer people needed, i.e. cut jobs save money.

 

[Del_X]

It's basically just better procedural rendering. I don't know why everyone turns into a luddite about the topic.

 

[Rat Rage]

Oh look, another cancerous CEO only doing what's good for him and his executive mates.

So much this! I mean, just look at these corporate fucks! Most of them are just overpaid parasites - very difficult to either respect or take them seriously. Something about the whole corporate structure system is seriously wrong, which is becoming more and more apparent as time goes on and the gaming industry is heading towards its next big crash.

 

[simpatico]

You're going to see two kinds of reactions to AI from developers. The ones who just want a comfy desk job at a company with a prestigious name are going to hate it and speak out against every gaming related AI advancement. They don't have the ambition or attention span to start their own game dev studio, so there is no AI benefit to them. They've been drawing concept art on a wacom for 10 years and AI threatens that. Then you get the visionary types. They're going to be excited because they know how much AI can help their project compete with projects that have 100x more staff. It will be interesting over the next couple years to see who is who in relation to this issue.

 

[RedC]

There will definitely be negatives, but I also see the positives with the evolution of AI trickling down to smaller studios and allowing them to be more efficient with development and doing more with less.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Oh Andrew is hungry alright

 

[tmlDan]

I feel like they already do this to a large extent, i don't think this is very controversial tbh

 

[DAHGAMING]

Fuck it, let AI create the complete game as the games were getting from humans are mostly piles of shit at the moment anyway.

 

[zeroluck]

First came the DCC tools, then Unreal/Unity, now it is AI, if you are against AI you should be against the others as well, they are all cost reduction mechanism.

 

[lh032]

hes a good looking ceo.

 

[Doctor Hades]

Every time someone mentions using AI to make a game then I just think about how the recent Grand Theft Auto Definitive Edition turned out...

/shudders

Urgh! Stuff of nightmares!

 

[FoxMcChief]

Let’s do it already!

 

[intbal]

I've got bad news for ya, Andy.

Gamers also have access to AI.
Pretty soon, we'll be making our own games, exactly the way we want them to be. And you'll be cut out of the picture.

 

[Gaiff]

God, I hate those people.

 

[sendit]

If you're a developer and against adapting to industry changes by using gen AI. You're most likely going to be replaced by the developer that is.

 

[FoxMcChief]

more people lays off

It’s not like the layoffs will be the decision makers of games, just the grunts doing the small stuff, I assume. Like most other industries, adapt to the technical changes, or don’t and be left behind.

Either way, I look forward to the crumble of games, or the rise of it. Something needs to change though. As is, this industry is pretty broken.

 

[Cyborg]

This man looks truly evil

 

[mdkirby]

At the end of the day games NEED to become significantly cheaper and quicker to make. 6 years and 200mil is breaking the industry, and making games creatively stale. If generative ai can get those timelines down to 2 years, or 5 years with half the staff…that sort of cost would encourage them to use the other half to make another game, as opposed to sacking them, as profit from both is now way more likely.

Something has gotta give one way or the other, or we’ll just see more mass layoffs regardless, and even more stale and creatively bankrupt “safe” releases.

 

[StereoVsn]

I think what he means is that there is a hunger among CEOs to cut development cost, so they can increase their own bonus.

Yep, and fire more devs and creatives.

 

[StereoVsn]

If you're a developer and against adapting to industry changes by using gen AI. You're most likely going to be replaced by the developer that is.

You are most likely to be replaced by AI long term basically. If EA has say 10K devs. They all start using AI, which most devs are using btw. At some point as AI improves, EA won’t need 10K dev, maybe only 8K. Then it improves further, and they can get down to 5K. That applies double for artists and Voice Actors.

Since all the other companies will be doing the same where do you think these “redundant” employees will go?

But yeah folks, keep cheerleading many people losing their jobs.

 

[Skifi28]

Since all the other companies will be doing the same where do you think these “redundant” employees will go?

"Just work at a farm" will be the next "learn to code"

 

[StereoVsn]

"Just work at a farm" will be the next "learn to code"

Yep, it’s already starting with morons and shills saying people can go into trades. Because yeah, clearly everyone is going to become a master plumber or master electrician pronto.

 

[FoxMcChief]

You are most likely to be replaced by AI long term basically. If EA has say 10K devs. They all start using AI, which most devs are using btw. At some point as AI improves, EA won’t need 10K dev, maybe only 8K. Then it improves further, and they can get down to 5K. That applies double for artists and Voice Actors.

Since all the other companies will be doing the same where do you think these “redundant” employees will go?

But yeah folks, keep cheerleading many people losing their jobs.

It is what it is. Maybe they should try to branch out and learn to weld.

 

[th4tguy]

Developers need to start embracing generative AI as a tool to help them work smarter. It's not going away. The robots are already faster at writing code and the code that the best models generate is clean, well-formed, and tends to follow standards and best practices.

Devs who fight it instead of learning to use it are going to end up taking a principled stance in the unemployment line. Besides, the value of a good developer is their ability to solve problems and create solutions. The ability to write code isn't what's valuable these days.

The code is not secure. There are issues as it's pulling from sources that can't be checked or tracked.
This allows for bad actors to feed compromised code into ai learning and have that ai share that code with lots of devs.
Unless you are training your own ai with only data you know is valid and secure, it's just not ready IMO.

 

[Orutisu Furio]

I have a bad feeling that ”AI” in gaming will be used to push out non-stop massive piles of trash games that all look the same, akin to fast food because no matter how sophisticated AI can be, it will never be as creative as a human being.

You can’t actually create anything unique if you don’t feel anything.

 

[StereoVsn]

It is what it is. Maybe they should try to branch out and learn to weld.

Yeah, tens or hundreds if thousands of devs and creatives are going to learn to weld or do other trends.

As far as welding, you know that is being automated as well. So I guess welders need to do what, construction?

 

[StereoVsn]

I have a bad feeling that ”AI” in gaming will be used to push out non-stop massive piles of trash games that all look the same, akin to fast food because no matter how sophisticated AI can be, it will never be as creative as a human being.

You can’t actually create anything unique if you don’t feel anything.

If they do it right they will have directors, producers and some writers to smooth stuff out. But yeah, it’s likely to be crap for a period of time till AI gets better.

Thing is they could let go 50%+ people and still do about as good a job within a few years with AI assistance.

 

[ReyBrujo]

As a dev (albeit not in gaming) assisting tools are a step forward in the right direction. Back in the 50s and 60s programmers coded in paper, then gave the printed pages of code to an operator who would use a typewriter-like machine that punched holes in a card to then feed a computer each of them to run the program. In the early 70s developers used one-line editors until someone realized they could use the whole screen to edit files and not just one. Until the 80s people coded using text editors until IDEs appeared, allowing them to compile, run and especially debug code. Then came intellisense and now code generation. All those tools are there to make the developer focus on the core, the business logic, the thing that actually makes a product valuable. There is a huge amount of boilerplate code (sometimes necessary, sometimes not really) that is extremely boring to deal with, and with boring things comes disdain and carelessness which opens the door for bugs.

According to the Stack Overflow survey of last year 44% of developers already use AI tools, 26% were going to start soon and 30% were not planning. And 77% of developers had favorable feelings regarding AI. So, my conclusion is that the people here complaining about AI replacing jobs actually aren't developers, or have no idea about what AI actually is but fear it will replace their own jobs, or are being more Catholic than the Pope.