In its statement, Electronic Arts assures that humans will continue to be the protagonists, while AI is presented as «an ally» to iterate faster, expand creative possibilities and accelerate workflows to dedicate more time «to what matters most»: the creation of games and experiences «that have large online communities.» Electronic Arts maintains that AI can draft, generate and analyze, but not imagine, empathize or dream, tasks that artists, designers and developers can carry out.
«Simply put, this collaboration will help our creatives do what they do best,» says Electronic Arts. The company says that together with Stability AI they will amplify the creativity of development teams by offering them tools to express what they want. «Tools that will allow creativity to go directly from people's minds to our experiences,» says Steve Kestell, technical art director at EA Sports.
One of the first tools to emerge from this collaboration will be to accelerate the creation of physics-based rendering (PBR) materials by developing new workflows. For example, Electronic Arts talks about tools that generate 2D textures that maintain exact color and light accuracy in any environment. The company says that for years machine learning and AI have enabled its teams to develop technologies, and that the alliance with Stability AI will accelerate content creation processes.
The agreement between Electronic Arts and Stability AI is discovered a few weeks after the American publisher agreed to sell it to a consortium of investors led by Saudi Arabia in exchange for $55 billion. As reported by the Financial Times on the same day the sale of the company was announced, investors are betting on AI to reduce costs and boost profits in the coming years. To acquire Electronic Arts, the funds will ask for $20 billion, which in one way or another they will have to return.