The CEO of TinyBuild has assured its employees that the company does not use AI to spy on workers. Alex Nichiporchik made the assurance as he responded to the criticism he got for a recent announcement.
TinyBuild CEO Clarified His Earlier Statement Regarding the Use of AI for Workers
In a talk titled "AI in Gamedev: Is My Job Safe?" at Develop: Brighton conference last week, Alex Nichiporchik discussed how his company uses AI to monitor workers, the Games Industry reported.
According to WhyNow Gaming, the TinyBuild CEO recommended that managers and HR use AI to identify "problematic" workers suffering from burnout. He then outlined a method for monitoring employee communications to identify burnout early with the help of some software and AI tools.
Nichiporchik later clarified that this section of his talk was taken out of context. He told WhyNow Gaming that they do not monitor employees or use AI to identify problematic ones.
TinyBuild CEO Expressed How He Wanted to Use AI for Good and Clarified the Supposed Use Case
Nichiporchik also said that the HR part of his presentation "was a hypothetical, hence the Black Mirror reference."
"I could've made it more clear for when viewing out of context... The presentation explored how AI tools can be used, and some get into creepy territory. I wanted to explore how they can be used for good," he added.
Nichiporchik also tweeted that by identifying workers who were burned out, they could be given assistance before it was too late. He also shared how the AI tools could be utilized in a positive manner and not for team members to feel being spied on or "anything like that," citing an internal case with a studio lead.
He noted that the studio had used a "Black Mirror" level of technique retroactively on employees who have left the company but is now beginning to use it proactively.
CEO Also Talks on How AI Can be Used in Various Processes in Game Development
Nichiporchik also cited what he called "Time Vampires," or workers who talk too much in meetings but "nothing gets done."
"Once that person is no longer with the company or with the team, the meeting takes 20 minutes and we get five times more done," he noted.
The rest of Nichiporchik's talk focused on how AI can be used in game development and publishing processes, such as analyzing contracts and generating concept art.
According to WhyNow Gaming, Nichiporchik then said: "The way that I look at it is, if you're saying, 'hey, I don't want to do this,' you'll be the blacksmith that's making a sword... but there is a factory being built there in the background that's going to produce a thousand swords that might be 80, might be 85% as good, but they will make a thousand of them a day versus your one sword a week."
