Xsolla, the Russia-based games industry payment solution provider, has reportedly laid off upwards of 150 employees following a productivity audit of the company. Originally reported by Game World Observer, the layoffs were a result of an AI-based big data analysis of Xsolla. According to the Observer’s report, the magnitude of the layoffs was determined after an examination of workers’ productivity across various workspace software, including Gmail, Jira and Confluence. In a company email, which has been translated from Russian, Xsolla CEO Aleksandr Agapitov used language that could be flippant and insulting. In particular, he specifically labeled fired employees as “unengaged and unproductive,” stating that “I truly believe Xsolla is not for you.” Further complicating the situation is the fact that many of the employees appear to have been unaware that their activities were being tracked by Xsolla’s data collection AI. It’s a personal breach that Renee Gittins, executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), calls frightening and unethical. “Terminating such a large amount of people based on activity in software that they were not aware of being tracked is not only concerning from a business perspective but also a cultural and ethical one,” said Gittins. The nature of creative work, she explained, is impossible for AI software to track, and professionals in such a field will often approach their jobs in unique and unconventional ways. “Such an evaluation could harm those with nonstandard approaches and with different neurodiversities, even if their overall output matches their peers. Tracking such values and then terminating people based on them is sure to create distrust and anxiety within the culture of Xsolla’s workforce.” (SD-Agencies) | 