In this episode of the Proteus Leader Show, host Marie‑Olive interviews Andrei Fadiv, CEO of NASDAQ‑listed GDEV, about how the company is embedding artificial intelligence into its game development pipeline. The conversation traces Fadiv’s personal “aha” moment in October 2024 when he experimented with Anthropic’s Sonnet model, leading to the realization that AI could deliver true personalization at scale. He explains how AI can be used to understand player behavior, generate adaptive content, and dramatically accelerate prototyping—from two‑year cycles to minutes. The biggest obstacle proved to be human inertia: employees reverted to familiar habits after early failures. Fadiv describes the strategies he employed to overcome resistance, including leading by example, creating internal Slack channels to showcase AI successes, persisting with regular reinforcement, and nurturing a core group of early adopters. Looking ahead, he outlines a roadmap to have at least 30 % of GDEV’s content and code AI‑assisted by the end of 2025, with projects such as real‑time AI‑generated 3D worlds, adaptive gameplay that tailors difficulty to individual players, and tools that speed up iteration. Throughout, he emphasizes AI as a partner that amplifies human creativity rather than replaces it, and offers a six‑step practical guide for leaders wanting to embed AI in their own organizations.
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Welcome to Proteus Leaders Show. I'm your host, Marie-Olive, and today we're diving into a game-changing topic, artificial intelligence in entertainment. I'm especially excited about this conversation because I have the privilege of seeing today's guest in action firsthand. Andrei Fadiv is the CEO of GDEV, a major gaming company listed on NASDAQ. And as an independent board member and chair of audit and risk on GDEV board, I've had the front row seats to his vision and the way he's implementing AI to drive innovation. AI is rapidly transforming game development from generating realistic environments to personalizing player experiences. But implementing AI at scale comes with challenges, from internal resistance to technological hurdles. Today, we'll explore GDEV's journey, the obstacles faced, and the creative solutions that are making AI a daily habit in gaming. Andrej, welcome to the show.
Hi, Marie. Thanks for having me.
Andrej, let's start at the beginning. What made you decide to implement AI tools at GDEV? And what does that look like for a gaming company?
This realization didn't happen overnight. It was in October 2024 when everything really clicked for me. Before that, AI was just a buzzword. I didn't fully understand how we could apply it specifically to our business. We're very pragmatic at GDEV. We need to see concrete applications. This changed when I saw Sonnet controlling a computer and started experimenting with creating small, personalized AI tools for myself.
Sonnet? Can you please explain what Sonnet is for our listeners and give examples of personalized AI tools you created for yourself?
Of course. Sonnet is Anthropic's advanced AI assistant model in the Claude family. It's a sophisticated AI system designed to understand complex instructions reason through problems, and communicate naturally with humans. Sonnet can code, process text, analyze images, and assist with a wide range of tasks, from answering questions and writing content to helping with research and creative work. It represents a significant step forward in making AI tools more helpful, harmless, and honest for everyday use. These weren't grand systems. They were specific tools that solved my particular problems. But they improved my productivity and decision-making dramatically. That's when I realized, this is personalization in its purest form. And personalization has always been our goal at GDEV. We've been talking about it for years but weren't sure how to achieve it at scale. With AI, we can finally deliver truly personalized gaming experiences that adapt to each player. For a gaming company, implementing AI looks different than in other industries. It's not just about automating processes, though that's valuable too. It's about using AI to understand player behavior, adapt game difficulty in real time, generate personalized content, and dramatically speed up our development cycles. What used to take 2 years of back and forth between teams can now be prototyped in minutes. This completely changes how we approach game development and what kinds of experiences we can create.
Wow, Andrej. So you saw AI as a way to create personalized gaming experiences and to do that in a fraction of the time that it takes to do today. Now, whenever a company embraces new technology, there's always some resistance. What challenges did you face, whether technical, cultural, or strategic, when bringing AI into your business?
The biggest challenge, and this really surprised me, was human inertia. I initially thought that once people saw these incredible tools, they'd immediately jump on board and start transforming how they work. I was wrong.
See, you faced change resistance. We use the Change Arc framework at Proteus to map how people go through a change. People need to move from a mindset of difficult, weird, costly to a mindset of easy, normal, rewarding. You, as an early adopter, were already all the way there. But your employees were just at the beginning of the change arc.
You got it, Marie. What I discovered is that people tend to give up after the first attempt. They try something once, don't get immediate success, and then revert to their old ways of doing things. It's not that they're lazy or don't care. It's just human nature to stick with what's familiar. From a technical perspective, the gaming industry has been slower to adopt AI compared to other entertainment sectors. In streaming services like Netflix or TikTok, AI recommendation systems are already deeply integrated. But in games, despite the enormous potential, adoption has been surprisingly slow. I think this is partly because game development has established processes that people are comfortable with, and partly because the immediate benefits aren't always obvious. Strategically, there's also the challenge of figuring out exactly where to apply AI first. There are so many possibilities that it can be overwhelming. Should we focus on content creation, player experience, development tools, marketing? All of these are valid, but you can't transform everything at once. But honestly, the human factor has been the most significant challenge by far. Getting people to change their habits, to persist through initial failures, and to see the long-term potential— that's been much harder than any technical implementation.
Completely agree with this, Andrei. The human side of change is by far the most important challenge to address. Being on your board, I have never seen you back down in front of a challenge. What strategies did you use to overcome resistance and successfully integrate AI into GDEV's game development process?
I found that the only effective approach is leading by example. You can talk about AI all day long, But until people see concrete results, until they see someone actually doing something 50 times faster or better, they won't be convinced. So I started with myself. I began using AI tools extensively, creating small applications that solved my specific problems. Then I made sure to show these successes to others. I created a channel where we share interesting AI applications and breakthroughs. We also set up dedicated Slack channels for AI discussions and demonstrations. The key is to lower the barrier to entry. When colleagues see that something is possible, something that previously seemed impossible, they're more likely to try it themselves. It's about creating that initial spark of interest.
So you led by example, demonstrating how it did work for you, communicating to your employees through their preferred channels. I love the concept of lowering the barrier to entry so it becomes easier to try it. What else?
Another crucial strategy has been persistence. I keep reminding people about the possibilities, showing new examples, and encouraging experimentation. It's not enough to mention AI once and expect adoption. You need regular reinforcement. I've also found that it's important to identify people who show genuine interest and give them the resources and freedom they need. Not everyone will be an early adopter, And that's okay. Focus on those who are excited about the technology and help them succeed. Their success will inspire others. And finally, I've learned to accept that this is a process of constant iteration. You try something, it doesn't work, you try something else. The important thing is to keep trying. This is exactly how I've always approached complex projects. Not by getting everything right the first time, but by persistently iterating until something works. Then you build on that success step by step.
This is so insightful to hear from a successful founder how you've tackled complex problems, encouraging trial and error, allowing people to make mistakes. It's all about failing forward. Looking ahead, how do you plan to make AI a daily habit at GDEV? Can you share some examples of future projects or innovations powered by AI?
With pleasure, Marie. My goal is for G-Dev to become a fully AI-powered entertainment company. Not overnight. This will take time. But I believe by the end of 2025, we should have at least 30% of our content and code being created with significant AI assistance. Making AI a daily habit starts with integrating it into our workflows in ways that deliver immediate value. It's about showing people that AI isn't some abstract future technology. It's a practical tool that can help them right now, today, with the problems they're facing. In terms of specific projects, I'm particularly excited about AI-generated worlds. I recently saw a demonstration of a 3D environment being generated in real time as the player moved through it. Imagine combining this with VR and having the world adapt not just to your movement, but to your preferences, your playstyle, your emotional state. This is the kind of personalization that was impossible before, but is now within reach. We're also exploring adaptive gameplay systems that learn from player behavior and adjust difficulty, rewards, and challenges accordingly. The goal isn't to manipulate players, but to create experiences that are perfectly balanced for each individual, challenging enough to be engaging, but not so difficult that they become frustrating.
This is really exciting! The possibility of dynamic playing is so attractive, and I can see many applications in the educational system too. Imagine a world where a teacher tailors the teaching and the difficulty of the exercises to a student in real time.
Absolutely, Marie, this is a great example. On the development side, we're building AI tools that can dramatically accelerate our prototyping and iteration cycles. What used to take months can now be done in days or even hours. This means we can test more ideas, take more creative risks, and ultimately deliver better games. But the most important thing to understand is that we see AI as a partner in the creative process, not a replacement for human creativity. The human role is to have the initial idea, to guide the process, and to evaluate the results. The AI's role is to execute, to iterate, to generate options. It's a symbiotic relationship where each party does what they're best at. Humans are still the creative directors. AI is just giving us superpowers.
Thanks, Andrej, for reiterating that message for our listeners. We talked about this before many times in the boardroom. AI is a people amplifier, not a human terminator. Now, we love leaving our listeners with practical tips. So for leaders looking to bring AI into their own businesses, what are some of the practical steps they can take to integrate AI effectively?
First and foremost, start with yourself. Don't delegate AI exploration to someone else in the organization. As a leader, you need to personally experience the technology, understand its capabilities, and develop intuition about where it can add value. Second, focus on solving real problems. Don't implement AI for the sake of AI. Look for specific pain points in your business— processes that are slow, expensive, or inconsistent— and explore how AI might help. The best applications often come from addressing your own frustrations. Third, be prepared to fail repeatedly. This is crucial. If you expect immediate success, you'll be disappointed. Instead, adopt an experimental mindset. Try something, learn from it, adjust, and try again. Eventually, you'll find approaches that work, but it takes persistence. Number 4, identify people in your organization who show genuine interest in AI and give them the tools, time, and freedom to explore. Not everyone will be equally enthusiastic, and that's okay. Focus on creating a core group of early adopters who can demonstrate success and inspire others. Number 5: Create systems for regular reinforcement and motivation. This could be channels for sharing successes, regular meetings to discuss AI applications, or recognition for innovative uses of the technology. People need constant reminders and encouragement to change their habits. Number 6: Remember that AI is just a tool. The focus should always be on your product or service and how AI can make it better. At GDev, we're not becoming an AI company. We're using AI to become a better entertainment company. And finally, think about AI as a partner rather than a replacement. The most powerful applications combine human creativity and judgment with AI speed and computational power. Humans provide the what and why. AI helps with the how. This partnership model is much more effective than trying to automate humans out of the process entirely. The leaders who succeed with AI won't be those who understand the technology best. They'll be those who understand how to integrate it into their organizations in ways that augment human capabilities rather than replacing them.
Andrei, this has been an insightful conversation, and you gave such practical tips. Start with yourself. Solve real problems.
Fail repeatedly.
Spot early adopters. Create an innovation system. AI is just a tool. Do not be afraid of it. Your journey in implementing AI at GDeve is a powerful example of how companies can embrace innovation while navigating real-world challenges.
Thank you, Marie, for a very important conversation. I appreciate the thoughtful questions that allowed me to share our journey at GDEV and how we're approaching these challenges. It's been a pleasure to be on the show, and I hope we can continue this conversation in the future.
Thank you, Andrej. For those who want to learn more about GDEV and its AI-driven future, be sure to follow Andrej on LinkedIn. And as always, For more leadership insights and transformation strategies, visit produce-international.com. Thank you for tuning in, and until next time, here's to making innovation with AI a daily habit in your business.
We hope you're feeling better equipped to create the career, the business, and the life you want. To find out more about how we support our clients in leadership, learning and change, visit us at proteus-international.com. Have an excellent day, and thanks for listening.
