Embracer Group has released its annual report for 2023/24, and with it comes the revelation of a new AI policy for game development.
The company says that it began rolling out a new “Group AI Policy” over the last year. This policy comes with material to help on-board AI usage as well as provide principles to work by, an overall risk assessment of using AI within game development, and a general risk framework.
“AI has the capability to massively enhance game development by increasing resource efficiency, adding intelligent behaviors, personalization, and optimization to gameplay experiences,” the company said. “By leveraging AI, we create more engaging and immersive experiences that provide each player with a unique, dynamic, and personalized experience. We also see great opportunities for AI in game development speed, logistics and planning.”
Embracer says that it “understands the potential risks” that using AI in game development can provide. However, they want to “empower” their developers with various AI uses.
The use of AI, the company says, isn’t meant to “replace people” in the work being done by studios.
“We do not want to replace people with AI, we want to empower them,” head of privacy and AI governance Tomas Hedman said. “This is the core of our human-centric approach to leveraging the potential with AI.”
He continued: “It’s not just that AI enables our developers to do even more, and to become more efficient on certain tasks, it will also open up coding to a broader group of developers. Entry into the industry might be easier for individuals with disabilities who, for instance, cannot use a keyboard as easily as others.”
Hedman does mention a potential for bias to come from using AI based on its training, specifically in areas like diversity. However, he says, it’s something that has the potential to improve diversity within games over the years if used properly.
As far as more specific uses will be for AI, the company didn’t fully say in its report. Over the last year, Embracer has laid off over 1,400 employees and counting, cancelled dozens of games, and announced a split into three companies.
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