Intan Rakhmayanti Dewi, CNBC Indonesia
Technology
Monday 01/22/2024 10:00pm IWST
Photo: Infographic/ Distribution of unemployment in Indonesia/ Edward Ricardo
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The organizers of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) have released their annual survey on the state of the games industry.
Fully 84% of the more than 3,000 respondents said they were somewhat or very concerned about the ethics of using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the gaming industry.
The survey results outline the reasons for developers’ concerns, citing reasons that include the possibility that artificial intelligence could replace human workers and exacerbate layoffs, or expose developers to possible copyright infringement claims. Developers also fear that the presence of artificial intelligence could extract data from their games without their consent.
The GDC survey analyzes developer sentiment about AI by type of work. Respondents who work in more technical fields such as marketing, programming and business generally think that AI will have a positive impact on their work. Meanwhile, respondents who do creative work such as art, fiction and quality assurance believe that AI would have a negative impact on their work.
“I think completely changing someone’s job is a real concern,” wrote an anonymous respondent, quoted by The Verge, Monday (1/22/2023).
“AI should be used to increase capabilities, not reduce workforces,” he continued.
The choice of game engine software was one of the main topics discussed in the survey. 33% of respondents use Unity or Unreal Engine during development.
At the same time the survey was conducted, Unity announced a runtime fee policy that shocked the industry and angered a number of indie developers, before the policy was eventually reversed. In light of these events, a third of developers surveyed said they have considered changing or replacing their game engine software.
“We considered moving on to Godot or making it [mesin permainan] ourselves, so we don’t have to worry about shady business practices or shareholder desires,” says an anonymous response cited in the survey.
As the pandemic began to subside, companies implemented a return to office (RTO), which some developers say has had a negative impact on the industry as a whole.
More than a quarter of developers have some sort of mandatory return-to-office policy. In the quarter, 40% reported working at AAA studios versus 16% at independent studios.
While return-to-office policies range from a full five-day workweek to hybrid schedules, the survey found that the implementation of mandatory RTO has sparked dissatisfaction from developers.
“A large majority opposes a 3-day RTO mandate, but business leaders believe they know better,” one response reads.
“Wave after wave of resignations, loss of enthusiasm. That’s because we’ve proven that we can make games from scratch, working from home during a pandemic, and people don’t understand why the evidence isn’t enough.”
In addition to artificial intelligence, developers are also concerned about the layoff crisis that is occurring in this sector.
More than a third of respondents reported having been affected by layoffs at a personal or company level.
However, this survey was conducted in September 2023 just as Epic Games announced it would lay off more than 800 employees and before the layoffs at Unity, Embracer Group, and Bungie studios.
56% of respondents believe layoffs are occurring at their practices, and respondents say the large number of layoffs are the result of a post-pandemic course correction.
“Movie studios are growing too fast during the pandemic and people are spending less money on games during a cost of living crisis,” reads one anonymous response.
Dom Tait, director of research at Omdia, GDC’s research partner on the survey, wrote that the current wave of layoffs stems from companies adjusting spending levels to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Watch the video below:
Video: Artificial Intelligence Can Create New Types of Jobs, Who Will Meet Indonesian Human Resources Needs?
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2024-01-22 15:00:00
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