Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: EA partners with the company behind Stable Diffusion to make games
with AI

Link: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ea-partners-w...

Electronic Arts has announced a new partnership with Stability AI, the
creator of AI image generation tool Stable Diffusion. The company will "co-
develop transformative AI models, tools, and workflows" for the game
developer, with the hopes of speeding up development while maintaining
quality.

"I use the term smarter paintbrushes,ΓÇ¥ Steve Kestell, Head of Technical Art
for EA SPORTS said in the announcement. "We are giving our creatives the
tools to express what they want." To start, the "smarter paintbrushes" EA and
Stability AI are building are concentrated on generating textures and in-game
assets. EA hopes to create "Physically Based Rendering materials" with new
tools "that generate 2D textures that maintain exact color and light accuracy
across any environment."

The company also describes using AI to "pre-visualize entire 3D environments
from a series of intentional prompts, allowing artists to creatively direct
the generation of game content." Stability AI is most famous for its powerful
Stable Diffusion image generator, but the company maintains multiple tools
for generating 3D models, too, so the partnership is by no means out of
place.

It helps that AI is on the tip of most video game executives' tongues.
Strauss Zelnick, the head of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, recently
shared that generative AI "will not reduce employment, it will increase
employment," because "technology always increases productivity, which in turn
increases GDP, which in turn increases employment." Krafton, the publisher of
PUBG: Battlegrounds, made its commitment to AI even more clear, announcing
plans on Thursday to become an AI-first company. Companies with a direct
stake in the success of the AI industry, like Microsoft, have also created
gaming-focused tools and developed models for prototyping.

The motivations for EA might be even simpler, though. The company is in the
midst of being taken private, and will soon be saddled with billions in debt.
Theoretically cutting costs with AI might be one way the company hopes to
survive the transition.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ea-partners-w...
diffusion-to-make-games-with-ai-222253069.html?src=rss

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