Discovery Week at Klang!

Two weeks ago, right before the holiday craze officially commenced (and Klangers scattered to the different corners of the globe that they hail from), Klang had its latest Discovery Week. For those who are not familiar with Discovery Week, it is a week where all our Klangers get together for a hackathon, during which they work on new potential features for SEED.

This year’s Discovery Week was focused specifically on how generative AI and LLMs (large language models) can help us make game features and create an overall more engaging and life-like game experience. With AI advancement moving at lightning speed (you blink and all of a sudden there is some crazy new way that AI is being incorporated into our lives,) we believe that it is important to take advantage of the power and innovation of AI in an ethical way. With over 100 Klangers (some flown in from their home countries) in-house, the week was full of collaboration and connection. “It is so nice to have so many Klangers here working under the same roof,” says Executive Assistant Melisa Amaya Tellez. “It’s been really fun to watch everyone get together and think outside the box. We’re excited to see what they come up with.” The week commenced with a day full of awesome talks on topics like building meaningful communities, jobs in the age of wisdom, generative AI, and more. It was the perfect way to lay the groundwork for the days to come (and all of the awesome projects that were born.) From AI-driven Seedling artwork to a Berlin-style club on Avesta, there were many amazing projects developed over the course of the week. To foster some healthy competition (and have the excuse to give out a few trophies,) at the end of the week we named a winning project. “Through this experience, I learned a lot about prompt Engineering,” says Janira (UX/UI Designer and team member of the winning team). “For example, I learned that the more specific we were, the duller the output was. Through trial and error, we found that giving AI just the right amount of direction allowed its own creativity to shine.” Although AI can sound and seem intimidating to some, every Klanger was invited to join in on Discovery Week, even those without technical coding experience (which there are a lot of!) Our CTO and Head of Engineering, Oddur, captured it well when he said “This week has been a new frontier for all of us and has given everyone a chance to explore AI together. It’s not just about creating things for SEED but it’s also about all of us becoming a bit more literate in this field.” And more literate we did become! Now looking back we can say that Discovery Week was 100% a success. Not only did Klangers make some amazing discoveries and features to add to SEED (making it even better than before,) but they also all had the chance to come together and collaborate, filling Klang’s office with lots of holiday spirit. Here’s to Discovery Week and all of the ones yet to come!