EA's CEO claims AI isn't costing people their jobs, instead it's helping them

EA CEO Andrew Wilson has hit back at the suggestion that using AI in game development is contributing to people getting laid off, claiming that the technology is simply "augmenting" existing roles rather than leading to their elimination.

The use of AI in game development has been a hot topic over the past year. On one hand, companies argue that it not only removes mundane tasks from the plates of their workers, but it can also allow them to make more games and take bigger risks, as suggested by Jack Buser, Google Cloud's Global Director of Games. For gamers, though, they see this as companies putting less time and effort into development, taking away the magical qualities or little easter eggs that can only be put there by real teams.

For Wilson, though, he doesn't see AI as something that can take people's jobs, but rather as a tool that can improve the work of his employees, claiming that EA is actually hiring more quality assurance staff than ever.

Speaking at the iicon convention in Las Vegas, Wilson told Fox Business Network's Liz Claman: "I saw some data recently, I think, now almost all  - like 85%- of our quality assurance is done with some kind of machine learning or AI-driven algorithm. Yet as a company, we hire more QA people than we ever have."

Wilson claimed that AI is being used for "the simple stuff," such as checking that things turn on properly or reporting crashes. When asked if he saw AI replacing employees at EA, Wilson stated that "So far, it's been almost entirely augmentation."

While Wilson claims that AI isn't costing people their jobs, the company did lay off workers who helped develop their 2025 smash-hit FPS game Battlefield 6. Just a month ago, in March 2026, EA laid off individuals from Criterion, Dice, Ripple Effect, and Motive Studios, telling IGN that it was happening as part of a "realignment" of Battlefield studios.

On top of that, EA faced criticism when the game launched back in October 2025, with accusations that AI was used to generate art used in a premium bundle despite Wilson's suggestion that it's only used for "simple stuff."

Whether it will have an effect on layoffs moving forward remains to be seen, but for the time being, Wilson seems confident that it won't be the case.