Subnautica 2 and InZoi publishers announce voluntary layoff program "amid the era of AI transformation"

Krafton besides freezing hires for thing prevention archetypal IP and AI-related roles

Subnautica 2 and InZoi publishers Krafton person launched a voluntary redundancy programme successful what appears to beryllium a bid to shed ballast and winnow retired unbelievers arsenic they reorganise astir the usage of generative AI.

As reported by Business Korea and passed on by Automation Media, the redundancy programme follows a 4th of grounds profits. Krafton volition dole retired severance packages successful tiers, with radical who've been determination 1 twelvemonth oregon little getting six months salary, portion those who've been determination for implicit 11 years get 36 months.

According to a institution spokesperson, "the halfway intent is to enactment members successful proactively designing their maturation absorption and embarking connected caller challenges some wrong and extracurricular the institution amid the epoch of AI transformation."

Krafton announced plans to refocus connected generative AI for crippled improvement successful precocious October. These refocussings see splurging $20.8 cardinal / 30 cardinal Korean won connected retraining the workforce to usage generative AI tools, portion implementing immoderate benignant of automated absorption system.

They're besides going to walk $69.7 million/100 cardinal won connected a caller GPU clump - that is, a frosty warehouse afloat of computers with phat graphics cards that excavation their mightiness to implicit hard tasks, similar patterning a dataset to nutrient a mean Piña Colada look without exhorting the extremity idiosyncratic to portion sawdust.

Krafton person besides announced a hiring frost crossed each roles prevention for those related to processing caller intelligence properties oregon doing things with fancy chatbots, arsenic elaborate by CFO Bae Dong-geun successful an net telephone connected 4th November. The accent volition beryllium connected idiosyncratic unit being much productive, instead.

"Excluding organizations processing archetypal intelligence spot (IP) and AI-related personnel, we person frozen hiring company-wide," Dong-geun said, adding that "rather than reducing costs done AI First, idiosyncratic productivity indispensable summation astatine the company-wide level, truthful we are stopping hiring for now, and we volition signifier and disclose aboriginal whether determination volition beryllium changes to the five-year franchise IP strategy announced earlier this year."

This week, Epic's Tim Sweeney gave an "optimistic" defence of generative AI successful effect to Eurogamer's unimpressed Arc Raiders review, arguing that "when tech increases productivity, contention leads to gathering amended games alternatively than employing less people." It benignant of feels similar Krafton timed these announcements to upwind him up.

Generative AI aside, Krafton are slap-bang successful the mediate of a ineligible warfare with ousted Unknown Worlds founders implicit the prime and merchandise timing of Subnautica 2. I deliberation Brendy and I person fundamentally written a full publication connected the taxable by now. Here's the past quality nonfiction we wrote, successful which Unknown Worlds impeach their aged bosses of leaking things to the press.