What Happens When AI Tries to Network for You
Photo Credit: Unsplash / ROBIN WORRALL
Skift Take
Gamescom's AI tried to play matchmaker, but attendees weren't ready for a bot to book their meetings without asking.
An artificial intelligence-powered meeting generator at Gamescom, a major video game convention, automatically booked appointments for trade visitors without their consent, leading to widespread frustration and a swift shutdown of the feature.
Like most trade shows, one of Gamescom’s core benefits is networking among attendees. But this year the show tried a new feature. It added an “AI meeting generator” to its app that booked meetings automatically, without the knowledge or consent of attendees. The story was first reported by 404 Media.
Screenshots shared on X showed confirmed meetings with a note indicating they were “generated based on profile similarities.”
Attendees reported significant inconvenience. Chris Schilling, editorial director of Lost In Cult, described the process of manually declining unwanted requests as “absolutely heinous.” Henry Stockdale, senior editor at UploadVR, said two AI-created meetings conflicted with his existing appointments, causing a “minor panic attack.” Robiny-Yann Storm, a product and UX designer, noted the system created “a lot of stuff, but not value.”
In a message to attendees shared online, organizers said, “We tested a new feature today – the AI meeting generator. The aim was to suggest suitable business contacts based on your profiles and make it easier for you to plan your trade fair contacts. However, your honest feedback shows us that this feature does not provide the desired added value. We have therefore decided to completely remove the automatically generated meetings from your profiles.”
Event platforms such as Brella, Grip, and Swapcard offer AI-driven matchmaking, but only suggest connections, they do not automatically schedule meetings without user consent. The Gamescom incident highlighted why vendors have always avoided auto-scheduling.
The app's landing page, published by Koelnmesse, which operates Gamescom with game, the German Games Industry Association, mentioned “AI-supported matchmaking” but did not reference the automatic booking feature.
Gamescom, described by organizers as the world’s largest video game convention, attracts over 300,000 attendees annually including more than 30,000 trade visitors. Its prominence has grown since the cancellation of E3 in 2023.
Skift Meetings sought comment from Gamescom’s organizers but did not receive an immediate response.
