Tag:

generative

As the videogame industry continues to be hammered by layoffs, Netflix is offering up to $840,000 per year for a new Director of Generative AI for Games
Product Reviews

As the videogame industry continues to be hammered by layoffs, Netflix is offering up to $840,000 per year for a new Director of Generative AI for Games

by admin



Will Netflix ever actually develop and release its own big-budget videogame? That remains an open question, but it still seems determined to try—and it sure seems determined to do it using generative AI. The company is now on the hunt for a Los Angeles-based Director of Gen AI for Games, and it’s willing to pay an awful lot of money to whoever takes the role.

“We’re seeking a visionary and pragmatic Head of Gen AI to lead the strategy and application of Gen AI across our games organization,” the job listing (via Kotaku) states. “This role sits at the intersection of technology, product, and creativity—driving how we leverage cutting-edge AI to create meaningful, novel, and scalable experiences for players.

“You’ll serve as a key partner to our game studios, technology and platform teams, and leadership. Your mandate is to shape and scale our approach to Generative AI, from core capabilities to in-game features to entirely new forms of play, anchored in both what’s technically feasible and what’s compelling for players.”


Related articles

Prospective candidates will need to have at least 10 years experience in the industry, “demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end game development lifecycle, from concept to live operations,” along with various other qualifications. In exchange for their service, Netflix is prepared to pay—along with a comprehensive benefits package—a salary range of $430,000 – $840,000.

I find this help wanted ad particularly interesting in the broader context of Netflix’s efforts to muscle in on the videogame business. The company brought on former EA and Facebook executive Mike Verdu as vice president of game development in 2021 and launched its first in-house game studio in 2022. But two years later, the studio closed without even announcing a project, much less releasing one.

Shortly after that, Verdu transitioned from VP of games to VP of GenAI for Games; four months after that, he transitioned into a guy who doesn’t work at Netflix anymore. And now it wants a new guy.

Directors may be cheaper than VPs (emphasis on the “maybe,” I really don’t know) but even if that’s the case, the salary on offer here, especially at the upper range, has not gone unnoticed amidst the seemingly endless deluge of layoffs that have plagued the game industry for years—which, I must mention, includes cuts at Netflix-owned Night School, the developer of the Oxenfree games, earlier this year.

“Sorry, there’s just no money for new projects” “we have to lay off hundreds of people to cut costs” “that show/game/studio has been canceled and closed due to lack of profits”

— @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social (@kendrawcandraw.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-10-03T16:54:29.054Z

Netflix wants to pay someone half a million dollars a year to be “director of genAI for games”.
Your first Unity tutorial project makes you overqualified.

— @coil.bsky.social (@coil.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-10-03T16:54:29.006Z

I am not going to lie – if Netflix wants to pay me half a million a year to tell them that GenAI is a scam and should be avoided this is a service I am willing to provide. I will say it REAL SLOW.

— @willwarmstrong.bsky.social (@willwarmstrong.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-10-03T16:54:29.123Z

Netflix is certainly making no bones about its commitment to generative AI: In May the company said it plans to start showing “AI-generated interactive advertising” in 2026, and in July co-CEO Ted Sarandos gushed about the money and time saved by using generative AI instead of a conventional VFX team in its show The Eternaut, saying, “We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper.”



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
51% of Japanese game makers use generative AI
Esports

51% of Japanese game makers use generative AI

by admin


51% of Japanese developers use generative AI in game development.

In new research from Tokyo Game Show organizer Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA), as reported by The Nikkei, of the 54 Japanese companies polled between June and July 2025, over half used genAI. Primarily, it’s used to assist with generating visual assets, images, and character art, as well as story generation, in-game text, and support with programming.

The 2025 CESA Video Game Industry Report also revealed that 32% of respondents were also using AI to develop in-house development engines.

Although the survey size was relatively small at 54 companies, it reportedly included major developers such as Capcom, Konami, Square Enix, FromSoftware, and Sega, as well as indie teams.

Not all Japanese developers are fully engaged with AI, of course; Nintendo recently announced that while it recognizes generative AI is a “hot topic” and may lead to technological developments, it currently plans to “deliver value that is unique to [Nintendo] and cannot be created through technology alone.”

CESA’s full report into the use of AI across Japanese developers is expected to be released by the end of the calendar year.

Embracer CEO Phil Rogers recently called for a “smart implementation of generative AI in ethical and sustainable ways. Sharing her vision for the game services firm with GamesIndustry.biz, Testronic chief Sharon Baylay-Bell similarly cautioned that “AI is an accelerant; it’s not the answer.”



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Samsung SmartSSD v2
Gaming Gear

Did Generative AI kill the computational storage device?

by admin



  • Samsung used AMD’s Xilinx FPGA to power its SmartSSD storage device
  • It promised to reduce enterprises’ reliance on servers
  • Computational storage devices, however, have faded just as Generative AI surged

Samsung came up with the concept of a SmartSSD back in 2018, before generative AI kicked off. This computational storage drive would power server-less computing, bringing compute closer to where data is stored. SmartSSD had NAND, HBM and RDIMM memory sitting next to a FPGA accelerator in the SSD itself. That FPGA was built by Xilinx, which AMD purchased in October 2020.

Fast forward to 2025 and the SmartSSD has all but disappeared from Samsung’s portfolio. You can still buy them from Amazon (and others) under the AMD Xilinx brand (rather than Samsung’s) for $517.70 with a 3.84TB capacity.

The fact that it is a Gen3 SSD and the novel but complicated nature of the hardware made it a difficult sell. Then came the double whammy of COVID-19 and AI; the latter, more than anything else, is probably why Samsung gave up on CSDs.


You may like

Generative AI demanded another kind of computational resource that CSDs simply couldn’t deliver then and while LLMs need SSDs, storage capacity, rather than compute features, was what it was all about.

Put it simply, CSD represented an interesting but niche market, one that’s closer to traditional servers. It was nice but didn’t have the explosive growth potential of AI-related hardware. That’s why I think Samsung mothballed it after its second generation, despite the company positing that “the computational storage market has great potential” in 2022.

What’s next for CSD?

SNIA Computational Storage Standards – YouTube

Watch On

The dedicated page on SNIA’s website, the group that oversees the standardization of computational storage, shows little progress since the launch, in October 2023, of a CS API. A video released in 2024 by the co-chairs of SNIA’s CS technical working group mentions a version 1.1 that is under development.

One of its staunchest proponents, Scaleflux, changed its “about us” page to omit computational storage in its entirety. Instead, it focusses on delivering products that use CS under the hood. Its CSD5000 enterprise SSD, for example, has a physical capacity of 122.88TB but a logical capacity of 256TB (with a compression ratio of approximately 2:1) mentioned in the small print. That is achieved using onboard compute.

Given the growing importance of AI inference, it would make sense to have some of it done as close as possible to where the data lives, that is on the SSD. With ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) getting more popular thanks to hyperscalers (Google, Microsoft) and AI companies (OpenAI), the market for enterprise inference-friendly AI SSDs – especially at the edge – could open up sooner rather than later.

You might also like



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
39% of gamers in China are interested in generative AI’s application in games
Esports

39% of gamers in China are interested in generative AI’s application in games

by admin


According to a new report, gamers in China are expressing a “high interest” in generative AI.

Niko Partners’ China Gamer Behaviour and Market Insights report, published on August 27, 2025, surveyed 1,058 gamers in China to provide insights on player demographics, behaviour, and engagement in 2025.

The report found that 39.4% of gamers in China are interested in generative AI’s application in games, while 85.2% are aware of the technology.

Niko Partners noted that Chinese studios are “ahead of the game” with 60% already using generative AI in their development pipelines.

The analysis firm, in particular, highlighted NetEase, which has “integrated multiple generative AI features into Justice Online Mobile, allowing players to interact with smart NPCs or create custom videos with their in-game character.”

Elsewhere, the report found that esports and game livestreaming remain “key verticals” in China in 2025.

46.5% of respondents said they have engaged with esports, defined as having played or watched an esports game, or competed in a tournament themselves, while one in four respondents said they regularly watch game livestreamers, with “influencers and streamers playing a key role in game marketing and promotion.”

According to Niko Partners’ report, short video apps, like Douyin (TikTok) and Kuaishou, have continued to grow in importance and are “key marketing channels for game developers looking to target players in the country.”

The survey found that these short video apps are one of the leading sources of video game information, with 41% of gamers in China getting new game information from these platforms, compared to game platforms and stores (38.7%), social media (33.9%), messaging apps (33.4%), and influencers and streamers (31.6%).

Niko Partners noted that while “short video is the leading source for both mobile and PC gamers,” game platform recommendations are the leading source on console.

The report also found that mini games have “emerged as a notable segment” in China.

The firm defines mini games as those “can be played instantly, without download, and are typically available within platforms and apps such as WeChat and Douyin.”

The report found that 84.4% of gamers in China have played a mini game, with 17.7% of women playing these games daily, compared to 10.3% of men.

“Mini games are reaching a broader and more casual demographic in China, already accounting for nearly 10% of total player spending on video games,” Niko Partners stated.

In June, Niko Partners released its Market Model Reports, which reported that the Asia, Middle East, and North Africa (MENA) games markets generated $86.6 billion from player spending on software and services in 2024, marking a 1.4% increase.

The report also projected that “the regions’ development will continue reliably through 2029” with revenue estimated to reach $96 billion in Asia and MENA by 2029.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
The Pixel 10 Pro puts generative AI right inside the camera
Product Reviews

The Pixel 10 Pro puts generative AI right inside the camera

by admin


At The Verge, we like to ask “What is a photo?” when we’re trying to sort out real and unreal images — especially those taken with phone cameras. But I think there’s another question that we’ll want to add to the mix starting right now: what is a camera? With the introduction of the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL, that answer is more wild and complicated than ever, because generative AI isn’t just something you can use to edit a photo you’ve already taken; it’s baked right into the camera itself.

I’m talking about Pro Res Zoom, which is not to be confused with Apple’s ProRes video format or Google’s Super Res Zoom, so help us all. Pro Res Zoom kicks in when past 30x, all the way up to 100x digital zoom. Typically, the camera uses an algorithm to help fill in the gaps left by upscaling a small portion of your photo to the original resolution. Typically, the results look like hot garbage, especially when you get all the way to 75x or 100x, despite every camera maker’s best efforts over the past two decades. Pro Res Zoom aims to give you a usable image where you wouldn’t have gotten one before — and that’s where the diffusion model comes in.

It’s a latent diffusion model, Google’s Pixel camera product manager Isaac Reynolds tells me. He doesn’t see it as an entirely new process — more like a variation on what phone cameras have done for years. Algorithms have long helped identify subjects and improve detail, producing unwanted artifacts as a byproduct that engineers squash in subsequent updates. “Generative AI is just a different algorithm with different artifacts,” he says. But as opposed to a more conventional neural network, a diffusion model is “pretty good at killing the artifacts.”

That might be an understatement. In the handful of demos I saw, Pro Res Zoom cleaned up some pretty gnarly 100x zoom photos remarkably well. The processing all happens on device after you take the photo. Reynolds tells me that when Google started developing the feature, it took around a minute to run the diffusion model on the phone; his team got the runtime down to four or five seconds. Once the processing is done, the new version is saved alongside the original. I only saw it work a handful of times, but the results I saw looked pretty darn good.

1/3The original photo before Pro Res Zoom.

Pro Res Zoom has one important guardrail: it doesn’t work on people. If it detects a person in the image, it’ll work around them and enhance everything else, leaving the human be. This is a good idea, not only because I do not want a phone camera hallucinating different features onto my face, but also because it could be problematic from a creepiness standpoint.

Google has also taken a responsible step to tag photos taken with the phone using C2PA content credentials, labeling Pro Res Zoom photos as “edited with AI tools.” But it doesn’t stop there — all photos taken with the Pixel 10 get tagged to indicate that they were taken with a camera and whether AI played a role. If a photo is the result of merging multiple frames, like a panorama, that’ll be noted in the content credentials, too.

The Pixel 10 labels all photos taken with its camera using C2PA content credentials.

It’s all in an effort to reduce the “implied truth effect,” Reynolds explains. If you only apply labels to AI-generated images, then anything without an AI label seems to be authentic. But that only really means that the origin of an image is unknown, especially in an age of easy access to AI editing and image generation tools. It could have been edited with AI and not tagged as such, or the tag could have been removed by taking a screenshot and sharing that image instead.

The thing is, C2PA credentials can’t be modified once they’re created. Looking for a tag to positively identify an image as being camera-created becomes one of the only surefire ways of knowing that what you’re looking at isn’t AI. If that’s the future we’re moving toward, then there’s a massive gap between that reality and the one we live in now.

“I do think there’s going to be a period of education,” Reynolds acknowledges. He thinks that phase is already well underway, and I agree. But there is still potential for real harm — to people and our institutions — between now and that future, and that’s what makes me most uncomfortable about this whole moment.

Is a camera that uses AI to clean up your crappy zoom photos still just a camera? Probably, for now

Misgivings aside, I still had one question I needed an answer to: what exactly is an image taken with Pro Res Zoom? A memory? A robot’s best guess at what a tree looks like? A moment lost in time, like tears in the rain? If I take a Pro Res Zoom picture of the Statue of Liberty, is it really a photo that I took? Reynolds thinks so.

“Pro Res Zoom is tuned very carefully to just be a picture,” he says. “There’s nothing about Pro Res Zoom that changes what you’re expecting from a camera. Because that’s how we built it, that’s what we wanted it to be.”

Is a camera that uses AI to clean up your crappy zoom photos still just a camera? Probably, for now. But there’s a door open for someone who wants to build something else — and a lot of questions to ask in the meantime.

Photos by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.

  • Close

    Allison Johnson

    Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All by Allison Johnson

  • GoogleClose

    Google

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Google

  • Google PixelClose

    Google Pixel

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Google Pixel

  • Hands-onClose

    Hands-on

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Hands-on

  • MobileClose

    Mobile

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Mobile

  • ReviewsClose

    Reviews

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Reviews

  • TechClose

    Tech

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Tech



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Close