Side, a seasoned services provider formerly known as PTW, has entered into a six‑month memorandum of understanding with Denmark‑based artificial‑intelligence specialist Modl.ai. The agreement sets the stage for a joint effort to create an AI‑powered quality‑assurance (QA) platform that blends the strengths of each partner. Modl.ai, a relatively new player in the gaming sector, was founded in 2018 and secured $1.7 million in seed financing two years later.
While Side brings decades of experience in delivering outsourced services, Modl.ai contributes cutting‑edge machine‑learning technology designed to augment traditional testing processes. "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 ship entire builds—or even source code—to a testing vendor.
That approach relied on integration plugins and SDKs, creating friction and scalability challenges. "It became difficult over time," admits founder Christoffer Holmgard. The new system eliminates the need for deep access to a game’s internals.
Instead, developers deliver the product exactly as they would to a human tester or, eventually, to a consumer. The AI then runs the game on a comparable device, watches the screen, simulates key inputs, records every observable event, and passes the resulting data set to a second AI layer that flags anomalies, generates bug tickets, and escalates items that merit human review. The first phase of the workflow is what Modl.ai calls "building game knowledge." Developers upload assets—artwork, design documents, level layouts—and converse with the AI using natural language. "All of this is in natural language," Holmgard notes.
"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 contextual grasp of the title, the development team defines the testing scope. This can range from classic, scripted test cases to novel scenarios that play to the strengths of the AI engine. "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 explains. The AI then executes the defined sessions—referred to as "runs"—and produces comprehensive bug reports.
Each report includes textual descriptions, short video clips as evidence, and full log data. These artifacts are handed to a seasoned QA specialist who validates the findings and decides the next steps in the production pipeline.
Distinguishing genuine bugs from intended features remains a nuanced challenge. Holmgard points out that feedback loops from human testers are essential for teaching the AI the subtle design intentions of a game. "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. And then a good part of it also comes from feedback over time from the human testers. 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 the QA profession.
By equipping testers with AI tools, they can transition from repetitive execution to roles akin to AI engineers. "One of the cool parts about programs like this is that we get to move our people up the value chain," says McBride. Instead of a linear career path that ends at senior tester, staff can evolve into AI‑focused positions, earn higher salaries, and potentially bring jobs back to regions that previously lost them due to low‑cost labor pressures. The automation of mundane tests frees QA professionals to focus on strategic analysis, creative test design, and deeper gameplay assessment.
Benedikte Mikkelsen, Modl.ai’s chief product officer, reinforces this view: "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 human QA workers but will augment them.
McBride notes that price pressures in certain low‑cost regions make it impractical to eliminate human testing entirely. Instead, providing advanced tooling extends careers and raises the overall quality of work.
"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," he says. "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’s philosophy frames AI as a "sliding scale" with a perpetual human in the loop. "That's sort of our ethos," McBride affirms. The AI handles repetitive, error‑prone tasks, reducing human mistakes and raising overall efficiency.
However, final judgment and nuanced decision‑making remain firmly in human hands. Regarding applicability, Chief Operating Officer Oliver Deslandes admits the current solution is best suited for simpler titles—puzzle games, card games, or any experience with repeatable mechanics—rather than fast‑paced 3D open‑world or fighting games. "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," he says.
In summary, the Side‑Modl.ai partnership aims to pioneer an AI‑enhanced QA workflow that retains human oversight while automating the most tedious aspects of testing. By doing so, it hopes to elevate the role of QA professionals, improve test accuracy, and ultimately deliver higher‑quality gaming experiences.