EA CEO On How AI Will Impact Video Games And The People Who Make Them

With the rise of ChatGPT and other AI products and platforms, many people are wondering how AI technology could shape the future of video games. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson has commented on this during the company's latest earnings briefing, saying gaming will be "one of the greatest beneficiaries" of AI, even if it does cause a shakeup in the workforce.

Wilson said the "fear of displacement of the workforce" is a legitimate issue as it pertains to AI. History has shown that major revolutions like the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution led to "displacement" in the workforce in the near term and then "meaningful increases" in job opportunities down the road. AI could follow a similar trajectory, Wilson said, as reported by IGN.

"Our hope is that AI represents the same opportunity, and we're working very closely inside of our company to ensure that our people benefit in that way and actually facilitate them to do more things," Wilson said.

Another EA boss, Laura Miele, said AI can help developers speed up "creative iteration." Game development is an expensive and lengthy process, with developers trying out new ideas to, as they say, "find the fun." With AI, the "velocity of content" could be sped up, Miele said.

"As we think about live game support at scale there's going to be some really great imagery detection, issue detection, economic modeling that we're going to be able to apply as we continue to grow these connected ecosystems. So we're pretty optimistic and excited and inspired about this new wave of AI," Miele said.

EA has been working on advanced development systems using AI for years already. In 2018, the company revealed that it had more than 1,000 people working on a ridiculously ambitious-sounding technology project called Project Atlas.

EA is not the only big believer in AI in the tech space. Microsoft partnered up with ChatGPT and reportedly invested $10 billion into the AI company. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer believes AI will be a positive, additive force in gaming. Strauss Zelnick, the head of GTA parent company Take-Two, believes in AI as well, but he doesn't think a rival developer could use it to make a genuine GTA competitor anytime soon. PUBG creator Brendan Greene's new game, meanwhile, is using advanced machine-learning to create massive and realistic open worlds.