Japanese Game Studio Tasks Job Seekers to Draw in Front of Them to Make Sure Their Portfolios Aren't AI-Made
Sometimes, modern problems require "backwards" solutions.
While we all know that generative AI has made it much harder for many people to get hired in recent years, the same actually holds true for employers, who now struggle to hire new team members because of many applicants' tendency to use AI to cheat on test assignments and generate their portfolios.
Proving that modern problems sometimes require "backwards" solutions is one mid-sized Japanese game company, recently interviewed by Daily Shincho (thanks, Automaton Media), which now asks job seekers to draw something on the spot to confirm that the works they submitted in their applications were indeed created by them.
According to the studio's Chief Graphic Designer known only as "B" – yes, both the interviewee and the studio he works at were not disclosed – their hiring process now requires meeting applicants in person and having them draw something in front of studio representatives to verify the authenticity of their portfolios.
Sadly, the reason this became a necessity lies in the studio previously hiring several designers only to discover they had zero actual skills and were presenting AI-generated portfolios, which likely led to immediate firings and all the bureaucratic hoops an employer has to jump through when terminating someone, especially mere days after hiring.
B admits that taking job interviews out of the online format and back to in-person is old-fashioned and "a huge hassle for recruiters" and candidates alike, but notes that, as far as he knows, other companies are doing the same, meaning, no matter how laborious this method might be, it seems to be working and is becoming more and more widespread, at least in Japan.
It's also worth noting that B's studio itself doesn't appear to be staunchly anti-AI and, on the contrary, tries to promote its use, with B being among the few who encourage the higher-ups to learn how to read the room and have a voice loud and prominent enough to actually be heard.
"I also use generative AI as a supplementary tool on the job. But I strongly believe that only human creators can produce compelling characters and graphics from scratch," B says. "That's precisely why I'm telling upper management that we should hire talented individuals. Yet the company is steering toward promoting generative AI. I'm anxious about how much they truly understand my perspective."
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