Veteran sports commentator John Buccigross says that Electronic Arts and EA Sports are using generative AI for portions of the commentary in NHL 27. The broadcaster shared this news on the latest episode of the Chirping Zebras podcast.
During the episode, Buccigross shared some of his experience working with EA Sports on the NHL games that the studio puts out annually. While Buccigross says that he did record lines for NHL 27, he was also presented with several generative AI lines, using his voice, that will provide further commentary at times throughout the game.
They're using some AI now; they played me some stuff back of my voice. It's like 'Wow, that's pretty good!' If that means less work but the same check, I'll take it.
Buccigross continues to share how some of the lines he heard from the generative AI were incorrect.
Sometimes AI will get something wrong. One of the guys was playing it back, and a lot of these guys maybe aren't hardcore sports fans; they're video game extrordinares. They're not always up on the vernacular. So they're playing back my AI voice, and they're like, 'Score! And the crowd gets out of their chairs!' I was like, 'No, they're not chairs. They look like chairs, but we call them seats.'
So, little things like that, you gotta go back and listen because words matter. [...] But then you can make AI smarter; in the future they'll say seats, they won't say chairs. You have to manually put that in. That was kind of a funny anecdote from the process.
So, little things like that, you gotta go back and listen because words matter. [...] But then you can make AI smarter; in the future they'll say seats, they won't say chairs. You have to manually put that in. That was kind of a funny anecdote from the process.
In the past year (since April 2025), several rounds of layoffs have hit various divisions and studios within Electronic Arts. There were several hundred employees laid off at the end of April 2025, another 75 laid off from Cliffhanger Studios in May 2025, and an unknown number of layoffs across Battlefield Studios, Full Circle, and Electronic Arts. More layoffs are expected since EA was sold off. Since the deal was finalized, Electronic Arts told debt investors that it will cut $700 million in annual costs, including $170 million in "organizational efficiencies," better known as mass layoffs.
And with the acquisition of EA, I can't trust buying Battlefield 6 now. I liked the open beta and despite finally being able to afford it, I'm too paranoid to get it. I'm also TRYING to keep my game library free from AI. I have to admit I did buy Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery (for my family) though, so clearly I have weaknesses I need to address quickly before I completely **** the entire world and support AI like a ****ing harmful cult.