EA Exec Says There Has Been A “Real Rise Of Creativity” After Developers Embraced AI

EA executive Laura Miele, the president of enterprise development at the publisher, has commented on the role of AI in game development. She said in an interview that she has seen a "real rise of creativity" at EA thanks in part to developers using AI tools and systems to do "tedious" tasks that in turn frees them up for more creative pursuits. Miele was asked by The Game Business if using AI technologies can help speed up game development, and she said, "Perhaps in some parts they will." She went on to say one of his ambitions is to help developers "remove friction" from their workflows, and adopting AI is helping already, she said. "I always have kind of wanted to be a hero to them and help them create career-defining experiences. And I think that AI--what I've seen--how AI has enabled removing friction from our pipelines and our tools and our workflows, has been pretty exciting," she said. "It's removed some tedium out of their jobs." Without citing specific examples, Miele said she's witnessed faster prototyping thanks to EA's developers using AI. She also said she's seen "faster creativity" and faster timelines for when creative ideas get implemented. "So we're seeing it. I think there is a real rise of creativity that comes from removing some of the tedious tasks out of development," she said. Developers using AI for mundane tasks to free them up for more creative pursuits has been a key talking point from executives in the gaming industry. Before this, The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz said using generative AI for early-stage development on The Blood of Dawnwalker was essential to making the game. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick is also optimistic about the potential for AI to be used in non-creative areas for game development. Jeff Kaplan, known for his work on Overwatch, has also said AI has a place in certain areas of game production. Crucially, much of the talk about implementing AI into workflows has been from executives and bosses, not the people actually doing the work. In terms of how actual developers feel, a GDC study found that more developers than ever believe generative AI is hurting the games industry.