Electronic Arts is betting big on AI, but insiders say it’s backfiring. The company’s aggressive push to integrate generative AI into game development is frustrating employees, producing buggy results, and stirring up fears that AI isn’t helping, it’s replacing.

EA AI in-game development sparks internal backlash

While 87% of game studios now say they use AI in some form, EA’s rollout is rubbing staff the wrong way. Developers claim they’re being handed AI tools that deliver hallucinated code or outright broken outputs. Instead of saving time, it’s creating a pile of extra work.

Worse, some believe their jobs are on the line. A former senior quality assurance employee told Business Insider he suspects EA let him go because AI tools started summarizing playtester feedback—the exact work he once handled. Machine learning, he says, spelled it out clearly.

Developers say AI is adding stress, not solving it

EA isn’t just dabbling in automation; it’s going all-in. Staff are enrolled in multiple AI training sessions, nudged to use bots for people management, and told to treat AI as a “thought partner.” But many don’t feel like partners. They feel like guinea pigs.

In internal Slack chats, some workers openly mock management’s obsession with AI. One meme, shared with Business Insider, called out execs demanding AI “right now” with no clue how to use it. That disconnect highlights the growing divide: according to a recent survey, 87% of executives use AI daily, but only 27% of workers do the same.

Why EA’s AI gamble isn’t landing

Here’s what’s fueling the resistance:

• Poor performance – Tools deliver flawed or buggy output
• Job risk – AI overlaps with real tasks, leading to layoffs
• Mismatch in usage – Execs push AI harder than staff do
• Trust gap – Developers question whether the tools help or hurt
• Creative tension – AI undercuts the human spark in design

AI won’t fix bad leadership

Even as EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson insists AI is at the “core” of the business, the company admits in filings that it could backfire. Their own SEC report warns of “social and ethical issues,” potential “legal and reputational harm,” and loss of consumer trust. And it’s already starting.

A leaked demo featuring an AI-driven version of a “Horizon Zero Dawn” character flopped hard, mocked by players for being creepy and tone-deaf. If the public isn’t sold, and the workers are checked out, who’s this AI push really for?

Not all work wants a robot in the room

Developers aren’t just worried about job cuts. Many resist AI in principle. When a role demands emotional nuance, personality, or creative identity, they’d rather have a person than a prompt. MIT researcher Jackson Lu puts it plainly: “Where work is highly personalized or creative, employees want a human in the loop.”

And right now, that loop is breaking. EA might call AI a partner. But if the tools are flawed, the staff demoralized, and the output mocked, that partnership is heading straight for a respawn screen.