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

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Lol. You think this about personal jealousy?

Wilson's pay packet absolutely is part of the problem, when you take into consideration the number of people who actually MAKE the games who have lost their jobs recently.
If it was part of the problem, EA wouldn't be compensating him so much. They're doing it because they believe he generates more than he costs. Almost all hyper successful organizations do this. I wonder why...

Your comparison to the baseball guy is wrong. Ohtani is more like a Kojima or a Miyazaki.
Kojima and Miyazaki aren't compensated like Andrew Wilson or Shohie Ohtani.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
If it was part of the problem, EA wouldn't be compensating him so much. They're doing it because they believe he generates more than he costs. Almost all hyper successful organizations do this. I wonder why...

:messenger_tears_of_joy: I love that you actually think CEO compensation is linked to performance and success.

My yes, EA is killing it right now. Absolutely no issues there!

https://www.eurogamer.net/ea-announ...is-time-likely-to-affect-around-670-employees

https://www.investors.com/news/technology/ea-stock-electronic-arts-fiscal-q4-2024-earnings/

I guess all the video game companies must be super successful right now, given how much they pay their CEOs! I'm sure there are no massive cutbacks and problems anywhere!

Defending CEOs while the gaming industry fucking implodes around us is some strong corporate energy you've got going on there.
 
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ReyBrujo

Member
As for artist, it will be huge stab for them. And they are also needed for video games to be worked. you only see game = programmer in your statement above. Its not valid, half valid.

Point taken, that's true. I didn't mention the artistic side because it's not my field and didn't want to say something wrong but if a computer program (being it a procedural algorithm, a neural network or any other self-learning automatic software) can replicate what an artist does then that branch is also going to suffer losses unless those artists are able to build up a unique and/or recognizable style. That's what I refer to when I talk about Asian in general and Chinese action RPG copies in particular, they all look the same.

AI isn't going to disappear, people need to be aware of its advantages and disadvantages and, if you are going against it, find a way to differentiate from it. AI excels at logic so entry-level programmers at a high risk of, if not losing, not being able to find a job with their current skillset. However, the code generated by these tools often have slight problems. For example, some months ago we had to programmatically increase the size of every string field in a database from 256 to 1024 bytes and add some text to each of them. So, we used ChatGPT to generate a small program in C# to do that. At first glance the program did that, it read the database schema, then looped through every field and if it found a string field it would alter the column and modify the value. However, it didn't update the indexes. I mentioned that and ChatGPT drew a new program which would recreate the indexes after modifying the values. But again, now the program would create indexes even for fields that didn't have them before. I had to mention that again and this time it output the correct program. So, it's a powerful tool but which you must use with caution, this wasn't such a big deal but a junior might let worse bugs in. That's why AI can't right now replace a knowledgeable developer, it still needs to be overseen. And the prompts must be extremely careful or you might end up in a situation similar to the three wishes of a monkey's pawn.

What can an artist offer that an AI will have a hard time replicating? diffusionx diffusionx mentioned that generative AI cannot create which at this moment is true, it can only apply patterns. If those patterns are "canon" it makes it easier for AI to build on top of it. For example, elves always have pointy ears, lean bodies, are usually blond and live for a millenia, dwarves are stout with big beards and carry an axe, dragons are serpent-like in Asian culture, lizard-like in western ones. If the game is based on fantasy and you have elves, dwarves and dragons the AI will be able to output stuff that, under consumer eyes, will match the output of artists in a matter of seconds drawing on millions of previous samples. For that to not happen the definition of "fantasy" should change, new races should be created, new lore should be created, etc. But then will gamers accept a fantasy realm without elves, without dwarves, without dragons where sertexes fight mastiphers riding smint-breathing pelipotes?

And game without art is like product without soul.

Kind of agree there, yet sometimes people go to McDonalds. Not every player is looking for the next Okami when playing.

Perceived risk of AI taking own job by users going to the "Will Robots Take My Job" website. Note is when ChatGPT was launched at 39% of average, now it's at 45%. I believe the best course of action is adopting and using it for your advantage, finding a way to exploit it. I give you this: it's kind of easy for a programmer to do that than for an artist. I have no idea how would I incorporate AI in an artistic workflow.

RIP0SXU.png
 
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Krathoon

Member
AI would work great to test out quests and scripting in RPGs. Also, AI companions would be amazing. Imagine if you could chat with your companions.

Bethesda, take note of that.

AI also works great for debugging code and asking programming questions. I just started using it at work because it is a pain in the ass to get someone to help me.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
:messenger_tears_of_joy: I love that you actually think CEO compensation is linked to performance and success.

My yes, EA is killing it right now. Absolutely no issues there!
The entire market is doing this. The question you SHOULD be asking is how is EA fairing relative to the rest of the market?

I wonder why you're not asking that question? (I actually do)
https://www.eurogamer.net/ea-announ...is-time-likely-to-affect-around-670-employees

https://www.investors.com/news/technology/ea-stock-electronic-arts-fiscal-q4-2024-earnings/

I guess all the video game companies must be super successful right now, given how much they pay their CEOs! I'm sure there are no massive cutbacks and problems anywhere!
Translation: "The ocean is rough right now. Everyone mutiny their captains despite their lengthy track record of success!"
Defending CEOs while the gaming industry fucking implodes around us is some strong corporate energy you've got going on there.
I'll take that "energy" over the baby energy your exuding here.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
What can an artist offer that an AI will have a hard time replicating? diffusionx diffusionx mentioned that generative AI cannot create which at this moment is true, it can only apply patterns. If those patterns are "canon" it makes it easier for AI to build on top of it. For example, elves always have pointy ears, lean bodies, are usually blond and live for a millenia, dwarves are stout with big beards and carry an axe, dragons are serpent-like in Asian culture, lizard-like in western ones. If the game is based on fantasy and you have elves, dwarves and dragons the AI will be able to output stuff that, under consumer eyes, will match the output of artists in a matter of seconds drawing on millions of previous samples. For that to not happen the definition of "fantasy" should change, new races should be created, new lore should be created, etc. But then will gamers accept a fantasy realm without elves, without dwarves, without dragons where sertexes fight mastiphers riding smint-breathing pelipotes?
Obviously, this is true. If you just need a model for a corrugated shack or gruff military dude, then you don't REALLY need someone to make a model when AI could do so ably as there are millions of examples to draw form. But the point is that the AI actually isn't creating anything, it's just applying a pattern to an algorithm. This is good enough for many instances, but it's not art and it's not creativity.

I think the bigger point is that in a world where AI is doing all this work for all these companies, it will be a world without progress, because AI cannot progress by definition. So you'll still need actual people to make things.
 
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ReyBrujo

Member
I just started using it at work because it is a pain in the ass to get someone to help me.

lol, just make sure you somehow add value to the answers it gives you, if you just copy/paste whatever it outputs then they can just replace you with a copy/paste script 🙃

it's just applying a pattern to an algorithm

Programming and refactoring is just applying existing design patterns to the code base. These design patterns as initially established by the Gang of Four took inspiration from Architecture where there are well-known patterns for different building styles. In chess after the opening stage (which is nowadays pure theory) the middle game and the end game are finding patterns between the pieces (and if no pattern is found arranging the pieces to form a pattern you know). Even cooking is about combining textures and flavors (or patterns). Industrial activities, pharmaceutics, so many activities are about finding and applying the correct pattern to something it's scary when you think that _that_ is exactly what the current AI models excels at.

So you'll still need actual people to make things.

For the time being and with the current AI model, undoubtedly. The amount of people needed for certain tasks will be less, unfortunately, but that's how it has been since the French/Industrial revolution. When vapor machines appeared I guess there were blacksmiths that decided to continue forging horseshoes with a hammer and others who decided to start building or fixing those machines. Unless you do something at a government level (like taxing robots--or AI usage I add-- as Bill Gates mentioned) companies will always go for the route that gives them the faster time for an MVP.

Will players accept a game with AI-generated graphics or music? Who knows how many games have already done so, or used generated code for the engines that have never been disclosed. Note that the newer generations pay less importance to things that previous generations do so eventually the people accepting AI-generation will outnumber the people rejecting it. It took less than 150 years going from riding horses to riding smart cars without a driver. Will people get on buses without a driver? A plane without a pilot? Take surgery without a human physician? The discussion goes well beyond the gaming industry. Nothing worse than being contemporary to the changes because you have no way of knowing which path you should take.
 
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