Side, a veteran services organization formerly known as PTW, has entered into a six‑month memorandum of understanding with Denmark‑based artificial‑intelligence specialist Modl.ai. The agreement binds the two parties to co‑develop a next‑generation, AI‑driven quality‑assurance (QA) platform aimed at streamlining the testing process for video games.
Modl.ai, a relatively new player in the gaming sector, was founded in 2018 and secured $1.7 million in seed capital two years later. While Side brings decades of experience in outsourced services and a deep bench of QA talent, Modl.ai contributes cutting‑edge machine‑learning algorithms and a vision for how AI can augment, rather than replace, human testers. "The MOU effectively brings the best of what Side has and the best of what Modl.ai has together in a unique solution," explains Martin McBride, Side’s chief commercial officer. "One of the crown‑jewel, holy‑grail experiences for the games industry right now has been using AI technology to better augment QA services.
No one's really found a great solution for that. We think we have." Earlier AI‑enabled QA tools, including Modl.ai’s own first‑generation offering, required developers to hand over complete builds or even source code so that the AI could run tests internally. That approach proved cumbersome, creating friction for studios that were reluctant to expose proprietary assets. "It became difficult over time," recalls Modl.ai founder Christoffer Holmgard, noting that the integration‑heavy model hindered adoption.
The new system eliminates the need for any internal code access. Instead, developers deliver the same build they would eventually ship to a tester or a consumer.
The AI runs the game on a device that mirrors the target hardware, watches the screen, simulates player inputs, and records every observable event. A second AI layer then analyses the generated data, flags anomalies, and escalates potential bugs to human reviewers.
"We take the product as you would give it to a QA tester, as you would eventually give it to the consumer," Holmgard says. "You put it on a very similar or even the same device. And then our solution plays the game by looking at the screen, simulating key processes, generating a data set of everything that happens, and then hands it over to a second AI system that has a look at it and identifies bugs, raises it up to the human level and asks whether this is something we should act on." The workflow begins with what Modl.ai calls "building game knowledge." Developers upload assets—textures, models, design documents, even screenshots—and converse with the AI in natural language to teach it the game's mechanics, narrative beats, and visual style.
"All of this is in natural language," Holmgard explains. "We just chat with the system about our game, but we're also adding in images, or we might upload our game design documents and so on." Once the AI has a basic understanding, the studio defines the testing scope. Test cases can range from traditional functional checks to novel scenarios crafted specifically for AI interpretation. Here, human expertise remains crucial: testers must phrase prompts and guide the AI so that it performs the intended actions.
"This is where you need some human expertise to adapt the prompting and the language to the AI agent to make it do the right things," Holmgard notes. During a test run, the system records logs, captures short video clips as evidence, and compiles textual bug reports.
These artefacts are handed to a seasoned QA specialist who reviews them, decides which issues merit further action, and provides feedback that the AI can learn from. "We get all the texts, and we get some video snippets that we call evidence along with all the log data and everything," Holmgard says.
"This goes to a human QA specialist, an expert. They review it, and then they decide what happens with it for the rest of our production." Distinguishing a genuine defect from an intentional feature is a subtle challenge.
The AI improves its judgment over time by incorporating tester feedback: "Some of it comes from the prompting. Some of it comes from that game knowledge that you've built up around the game ahead of time," Holmgard explains. "And then a good part of it also comes from feedback over time from the human testers. And so they will provide feedback to the bug reports and say: 'This was a bug; this was not a bug; this was not a bug for this reason' and so, over time, the system gets attuned." Side envisions a broader shift in career trajectories for its QA workforce.
By equipping testers with AI tools, the company aims to elevate them from routine test execution to roles akin to AI engineers, thereby moving talent up the value chain. "One of the cool parts about programs like this is that we get to move our people up the value chain," McBride says. "So instead of just doing testing and having a career at Side being a tester and moving up to being a senior tester and all the way up, they can become an AI engineer. And so it allows our people to get paid more money.
It allows us to have new career paths. And it allows us to potentially bring jobs back to countries and areas where these jobs historically have gone away due to price points and labour concerns. When they're moved back up the value chain, we can move them back into countries where they have historically left." The AI also promises to make the day‑to‑day work of QA staff more rewarding. Repetitive smoke tests and verification steps that currently consume large portions of a tester’s schedule can be automated, freeing humans to focus on strategic analysis, gameplay assessment, and creative testing.
"One of the things that this tool does very well right now is that it reduces the burden of repetitive tests," McBride notes. "By knocking these out and automating them, they get to have a more fulfilling career here with Side because they get to think more strategically, and they get to actually do more of the analysis and the kind of jobs that help them grow their career here." Benedikte Mikkelsen, Modl.ai’s chief product officer, echoes this sentiment: "There are some very tedious tests that testers are performing right now. You don't really need a human doing the same flow over and over again. That person could be doing something much more valuable, like assessing the gameplay itself or doing more creative kinds of testing.
That, I think, is a value proposition of using AI." Both leaders stress that AI will not replace QA professionals but will serve as a force multiplier. "There's always going to be an opportunity for people to do a lot of the testing work here because the price point of testing right now is so low in certain countries that it's very hard to augment it completely away," McBride observes. "But by giving our people tool sets like this, I'm allowing them to further their career.
I'm allowing them to have a longer career outside. And by moving them up the value chain, I get to keep them for longer." Side characterises its AI philosophy as a "sliding scale" where human oversight remains indispensable. "There will always be a human in the loop—that's sort of our ethos," McBride affirms.
"This tool really does allow our people to take the best of what AI can offer and reduce the burden and also reduce mistakes. A lot of this work is tedious and people are prone to error. You take that out of the equation, and everything just ratchets up a notch and it becomes better." Regarding the types of games the solution currently supports, COO Oliver Deslandes admits the technology is best suited to simpler titles—puzzle games, card games, and other experiences with repeatable mechanics—rather than fast‑paced 3D open‑world adventures or fighting games. "Really puzzles, card games, stuff that's not too fast," he says.
"Anything currently that's very rapid, like fighting games, that's a little further down the line. We have to focus on titles that are more appropriate. What we're aiming for at this stage is really clients that are willing to come on the journey with us because it could very much depend on what they want to do with this.
Some of them will be very demanding in terms of wanting results and wanting to save money now." Deslandes concludes that the partnership is an exploratory venture: "The reality is that it's a journey, but if you are at the table now with us and maybe doing some pilots with us, then you will see where this tech goes."