Psycho Patrol R A game by Consumer SoftproductsMaintenance release: Godot 4.4.1By: Rémi Verschelde26 March 2025ReleaseWe released Godot 4.4 in early March and we are delighted to see the reception, with so many users upgrading to it on day one and sharing their favorite new changes on social media! If you haven’t seen the 4.4 release page, it’s well worth a read!Since then, we’ve started the development phase for Godot 4.5 at full speed (with a first dev snapshot released last week!), but we also put our main focus on fixing remaining and newly reported regressions that affect users who upgraded to 4.4. A few of these issues can be showstoppers for affected users, so we decided to release a 4.4.1 maintenance release as soon as possible.See below for a list of the most relevant changes. This release includes fixes to security vulnerabilities in the mbedTLS third-party library, so we strongly recommend updating for any game using networking functionality.Maintenance releases are expected to be safe for an upgrade, but we recommend to always make backups, or use a version control system such as Git, to preserve your projects in case of corruption or data loss.Please, consider supporting the project financially, if you are able. Godot is maintained by the efforts of volunteers and a small team of paid contributors. Your donations go towards sponsoring their work and ensuring they can dedicate their undivided attention to the needs of the project.Godot is downloading...Godot exists thanks to donations from people like you. Help us continue our work:Make a DonationThe illustration picture for this article comes from Psycho Patrol R, a FPS/mecha hybrid europolice sim, which was recently released in Early Access on Steam. It is developed by Consumer Softproducts, known for their previous Godot hit Cruelty Squad.Changes58 contributors submitted around 125 fixes for this release. See our interactive changelog for the complete list of changes since the 4.4 release.Below are some of the most notable changes (with critical fixes highlighted in bold):3D: Fix RemoteTransform3D to always use global rotation if use_global_coordinates is true (GH-97498).Animation: Fix console errors and crash in cleanup code for PhysicalBoneSimulator3D (GH-103921).Animation: Fix missing process_state error in blend spaces (GH-104018).Animation: Fix rest translation space in LookAtModifier3D (GH-104217).Audio: Set interactive music streams as meta streams (GH-104054).Audio: Fix AudioEffectPitchShift issues when pitch_scale is set to 1 (GH-104090).Buildsystem: Android: Fix build with disable_3d (GH-103523).C#: Use ObjectID when converting Variant to GodotObject (GH-98034).C#: Skip re-saving .csproj when TFM is unchanged (GH-103714).Core: Use single RNG instance for FileAccessEncrypted IV generation (GH-103415).Core: Fix Invalid Task ID errors in ResourceLoader (GH-104060).Editor: Fix copying a Node with a signal potentially resulting in an editor crash (GH-96372).Editor: Make EditorProperty and its child EditorProperty behave like sibling nodes when handling mouse events (GH-103316).Editor: Fix TextEdit scrolls wrong on text selection (GH-103410).Editor: Update script modified times when saved in EditorNode (GH-103695).Editor: Fix ownership when pasting non root with child nodes in new scene (GH-103769).Editor: Create .uid files for detected new files (GH-104248).Editor: Fix editor crash when inspecting 2 objects handled by the same plugin (GH-104296).Editor: Change root node transform warning to only show up for position (GH-104331).Export: iOS: Restore one-click deploy device enumeration using Xcode (GH-103590).Export: Android: Convert compress_native_libraries to a basic export option (GH-104301).GDExtension: Correctly register editor-only OpenXR* classes’ api_type (GH-103869).GDScript: Fix head class range to include class_name (GH-104114).GDScript: Add clearing of static_gdscript_cache to GDScriptCache (GH-104281).GUI: Fix Tree keyboard navigation in RTL direction (GH-102865).GUI: Fix changed signal emission in Curve::set_point_offset (GH-96296).GUI: Fix spinbox decimal issues when update_on_text_changed = true (GH-100684).GUI: Fix error when embedded popup is closed while resizing (GH-102504).GUI: VideoStreamPlayer: Stop video on exit tree (GH-103396).GUI: Use Viewport’s default texture filter/repeat in GUI tooltips (GH-103636).GUI: Label: Fix min. size calculation counting extra spacing twice (GH-103728).Import: Fix headless import always emits errors (GH-103403).Import: BasisUniversal: Ensure ASTC’s HDR variant is supported when transcoding (GH-103766).Import: ResourceLoader: Do not wait for the main thread during initial reimport (GH-104013).Import: Force multiple of 4 sizes for Betsy compressor (GH-104275).Import: Fix crash when reimporting nested gltf scenes (GH-104384).Input: Fix Android mouse capture issues (GH-103413).Input: macOS/iOS: Ensure only one axis change event is produced during single process_joypads() call (GH-104314).Navigation: Make NavigationLink3D properly update on visibility change (GH-103588).Particles: Fix particle jitter when scene tree is paused (GH-95912).Particles: Fix GPU particles not emitting at some configured rates when scale curve is zero (GH-103121).Physics: Fix interpolation in XR (GH-103233).Physics: Fix broken negative scaling when using Jolt Physics (GH-103440).Physics: Fix ConcavePolygonShape3D always enabling backface_collision when using Jolt Physics (GH-104310).Physics: Fix shape always being zero with get_rest_info when using Jolt Physics (GH-104599).Plugin: JavaClassWrapper: Improve handling of typed array arguments (GH-102817).Plugin: JavaClassWrapper: Fix converting returned arrays to Godot types (GH-103375).Plugin: JavaClassWrapper: Fix conversion to/from org.godotengine.godot.Dictionary that regressed (GH-103733, GH-104156).Porting: Linux: X11: Fix check for is_maximized to require both horizontal and vertical (GH-103526).Porting: Linux: Offload RenderingDevice creation test to subprocess (GH-103560).Porting: macOS: Swap Nintendo face buttons (GH-103661).Porting: macOS: Update mouse-entered state when subwindow closes (GH-104328).Porting: Windows: Fix get_modified_time on locked files (GH-103622).Porting: Windows: Use more efficient sleep approach when low-processor mode is enabled (GH-103773).Rendering: Add ASTC HDR format variants (GH-102777).Rendering: Fix voxelizer normals (GH-102893).Rendering: Fix 2D quad primitive missing lighting data in GLES3 renderer (GH-102908).Rendering: Fix uninitialized value in Tonemap (GH-103092).Rendering: Use separate WorkThreadPool for shader compiler (GH-103506).Rendering: Fix incorrect parameters passed to VMA (GH-103730).Rendering: MetalFX: Change fallback behavior (GH-103792).Rendering: Fix GLES3 gaussian_blur mipmap setup (GH-103878).Rendering: CPUParticles2D: Fix physics interpolation after entering tree with emitting = false (GH-103966).Rendering: Vulkan: Disable layers in editor deemed buggy by RenderDoc (GH-104154).Rendering: Fix Metal handling of cube textures; assert equal dimensions (GH-104341).Rendering: Disable broken Vulkan layers before running RenderingDevice tests (GH-104572).Shaders: Fix 2D instance params crashing using outside of main() (GH-103348).Shaders: 2D: Fix light shader accessing TEXTURE_PIXEL_SIZE (GH-103617).Thirdparty: Theora: Fix YUV422/444 to RGB conversion (GH-102859).Thirdparty: Update to latest version of Swappy (GH-103409).Thirdparty: mbedTLS: Update to version 3.6.3 (security fix) (GH-104562).XR: Correct occlusion culling viewport location calculation when projection uses asymmetric FOV (GH-104249).Known incompatibilitiesAs of now, there are no known incompatibilities with the previous Godot 4.4 release. We encourage all users to upgrade to 4.4.1.If you experience any unexpected behavior change in your projects after upgrading to 4.4.1, please file an issue on GitHub.Bug reportsAs a tester, we encourage you to open bug reports if you experience issues with this release. Please check the existing issues on GitHub first, using the search function with relevant keywords, to ensure that the bug you experience is not already known.In particular, any change that would cause a regression in your projects is very important to report (e.g. if something that worked fine in previous 4.x releases, but no longer works in this snapshot).SupportGodot is a non-profit, open source game engine developed by hundreds of contributors on their free time, as well as a handful of part and full-time developers hired thanks to generous donations from the Godot community. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed their time or their financial support to the project!If you’d like to support the project financially and help us secure our future hires, you can do so using the Godot Development Fund.Donate now

You can never have too many platformers, though separating the crème of the crop is a tough task. Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is the latest, developed by Primal Game Studio and combining dark medieval fantasy with the average backtracking and ability unlocking. Throw in some Souls-like combat as well, with a stamina meter and stat-scaling weapons, which may dissuade some from giving it a try. Mandragora does have several other core gameplay issues, but it did surprise me with its exploration, art direction, and combat feel. While I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to play it, there’s still a certain charm to it all. Witches are a core part of the setting if the title didn’t tip you off. However, you start on the opposite side – the Inquisition. During the “trial” of a witch, your character opts to execute her and gains witch-like powers in the process. The extent of this is unknown, but the Powers That Be are far from happy with your display of defiance. Still, power is power, and even you’re sent to locate another witch in the wilds. An ominous voice slowly creeps through your thoughts, however. Surely, it won’t lead down any dark paths. The premise is intriguing enough, and Mandragora has some solid voice acting to back it up, yet some dialogue and characterization aren’t the best. You’ll still encounter some intriguing characters, like the tailor Shirin, who mysteriously knows how to circumvent many of the dangers of travelling, but most of the personality lies in the ambient dialogue of passersby. "Speaking of the bosses, they’re not exactly Dark Souls caliber in terms of mechanics but still pose a decent challenge if you’re appropriately levelled." Hearing a father annoying his daughter with a dad joke or two NPCs haggling over prices felt natural; even the banter and taunts from bandits and brigands lent to the world-building and personality. A shame that my character can’t quite match it, with the voice acting and dialogue feeling like the most forced of the “protagonist who talks to themselves too much” archetype. It’s not super overbearing, but it did elicit an eye roll or two on occasion. The journey is more important than the hero in this case and Mandragora offers some rather solid level design. The relative safety and civilization of the city gives way to the boondocks, with swamps, and ruined buildings containing all manner of monsters and towns on their last legs. More than one system of sewers awaits, but they feel varied enough, one packed with poisonous slimes and straightforward corridors versus another with extensive ledges and platforming. The freedom to explore is also quite nice, even if it meant running into a wolf-like boss that was clearly out of my league (clones are cheating, and I will not back down from this stance). Side quests can be fairly straightforward, like cleansing an area of threats, and work just fine while incentivizing exploration. I’m not the biggest fan of the sheer number of locked chests, especially in the early going when lockpicks aren’t super common drops, but at least it’s something to return to for completion’s sake if nothing else. Speaking of the bosses, they’re not exactly Dark Souls caliber in terms of mechanics but still pose a decent challenge if you’re appropriately levelled. It did seem like there were one too many giant rats in the early going, but the threats diversify as you go along with some truly devious (and rage-inducing) affairs. Which brings me to one of the game’s more annoying issues. "Combat is solid though, with multiple classes and weapon types to choose from, I went with the Flameweaver, which provided solid physical and magic damage alongside decent sustainability." Movement as a whole feels decent, especially when dodge-rolling through enemy attacks or jumping over obstacles. It’s usually on point when grabbing ledges and dropping down…except when it’s not, and you take fall damage (and sometimes die). The randomness of this would throw me off at times, and since you need to backtrack from the nearest checkpoint, it can become frustrating. Don’t even get me started on the finicky nature of dropping down onto ledges. Combat is solid though, with multiple classes and weapon types to choose from, I went with the Flameweaver, which provided solid physical and magic damage alongside decent sustainability. Each class has an extensive passive tree, though many game-changing options are much farther along. The majority of nodes are committed to stat increases, and that’s fine – it just makes some level-ups significantly less exciting, especially when the closest major nodes provide options like “Eight percent increased damage after casting a fire spell.” However, the twist is that other class skills can be discovered while exploring, and you can allot points to other passive trees. You still need the corresponding relic, which can cost gold in the early going, and switching to a separate weapon set is required, but it’s an interesting approach to multiclassing. A separate system is also in place for diversifying skills to reduce mana costs or increase Adrenaline on hits, adding further wrinkles to builds. With the sheer amount of resources dropped and discovered, it’s no surprise that crafting is a major component, though it’s mostly relegated to “Take these materials to the vendor and make something.” The problem is that unlocking the ability to craft certain blueprints requires levelling up the vendor, which is a separate grind unto itself. Your mileage may vary on this – some may appreciate it, but I sure didn’t. "Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is still a title where its many parts don’t particularly add up to something greater than the whole." If there’s one area in which Mandragora deserves unequivocal praise, it’s the visuals and art direction. Reminiscent of No Rest for the Wicked but with thinner outlines, there’s a hand-drawn aura to the environments with gorgeous lighting and shadows that truly set the mood. The giant portraits of key characters in conversations also look great, even if some are jarringly different from their character models. Animations are top-tier – watching a smaller monster’s blade slip out of its hands and impale it upon death is but one of many examples of excellent attention to detail. Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is still a title where its many parts don’t particularly add up to something greater than the whole. Some parts are worthwhile, like the combat; others, like the progression and crafting, could use further polish and improvements. While I wasn’t super-invested in the story, it was still fun to push forward, discover new environments, scoff at dead ends and revisit places to see if I could progress forward. Does it qualify among the best platformers or Souls-like games out there? No, but it’s a solid combination worth checking out and may surprise you with its presentation, combat and enemy design. Just do yourself a favor and think twice before any death-defying leaps, at least until a few patches drop. This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Vendetta is a new games publishing agency with an indie game spotlight initiative The 'publishing-as-a-service' gaming arm comes from agency Infinitize Image credit: Vendetta News by Samuel Roberts Editorial Director Published on April 22, 2025 Digital media agency Infinitize has launched Vendetta, a 'publishing-as-a-service' gaming division that includes personnel who have worked on campaigns for Devolver Digital, Dreamhack and SXSW Gaming. The goal is to give indie studios and other creators the "marketing firepower" to go head-to-head with heavy hitter publishers in the industry, according to the announcement. Vendetta's services include strategy, social, lifecycle marketing, product forecasting, fan-activation campaigns and event planning. The company said it wants to help studios "punch above their weight", and it's revealed a partnership with entertainment comms agency The Lippin Group as part of the launch. Infinitize's background is in music, streaming, and anime, with Crunchyroll among its clients. It cites a "fandom-first model" as a core tenet of how it does business. There are no details about Vendetta's clients in gaming yet, but as part of the launch, it's kicking off a weekly series called Settle The Score. Indie developers can submit their games for a chance to win $150 of complimentary ads as part of this initiative, which Vendetta says will help successful candidates secure more visibility for their games. "The games industry isn't a fair fight – but we're here to change that," reads the description for Settle The Score, which Vendetta describes as a "no-strings-attached" way to highlight new voices. Developers who want to participate, or learn more about the initiative, can submit their games here.

Nvidia’s GPU drivers have been a disaster over the past four months. It all started when Nvidia released its drivers for the RTX 50-series cards in January, and introduced black screen issues, game crashes, and general stability problems for new and existing graphics cards. Now, yet another new hotfix has emerged to fix even more issues introduced by Nvidia’s buggy drivers.Nvidia GPU owners have been struggling for months with a variety of issues reported on Reddit and in Nvidia’s own support forums, with most people fixing their issues by rolling back to the December 566.36 driver before the RTX 50-series. Those fortunate enough to secure one of Nvidia’s latest GPUs aren’t able to roll back to the old drivers as they simply don’t support the new RTX 50-series, so Nvidia has been issuing a series of updates to try and address the problems.The 576.02 driver release last week, which included lots of bug and crash fixes, seemed like it would finally solve the issues that have plagued Nvidia’s driver releases over the past few months, but it has made things worse for some. Posters in the Nvidia forums have been reporting issues with GPU monitoring utilities not reporting the correct GPU temperatures since installing 576.02, so Nvidia was forced to release a hotfix driver yesterday to address this issue.The latest 576.15 hotfix also includes fixes for lower idle GPU clock speeds for RTX 50-series owners, and some fixes for certain games flickering after updating to last week’s 576.02 driver. I would highly recommend installing this hotfix driver if you’re on an RTX 50-series GPU or you regularly set your PC to sleep mode and use GPU monitoring utilities like Afterburner to control a custom fan curve based on GPU temperatures.While this latest hotfix driver addresses some important issues, Nvidia forum posters are still reporting lots of game crashes, performance issues, and stuttering when using G-Sync in certain games. Nvidia is currently tracking at least 15 open issues with its 576.02 driver that will hopefully be addressed with the next official driver release.Nvidia has released four hotfix drivers over the past two months, which is a surprising amount of hotfixes between the main Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) releases. It’s also surprising because, for the most part, Nvidia’s GPU drivers have always been stable and better than the AMD and Intel competition at game compatibility, performance, and crash-free gaming.Nvidia’s driver issues come after a turbulent launch of the RTX 50-series cards. Some RTX 5090 power cables have been melting, Nvidia had to admit that some of its new GPUs had a “rare” manufacturing issue that meant they were missing render units, and some of Nvidia’s marketing claims have been questionable. The RTX 50-series cards have also been difficult to find in stock at retail prices, leaving many PC gamers frustrated by Nvidia’s latest GPU launch.See More:

Pinterest is testing a new pop-up prompt it will display to minors in the US and Canada during school hours, encouraging them to close the app and turn off notifications until the end of the day.“Focus is a beautiful thing,” the prompt says. “Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs [sic] until the school bell rings.”The new alert only appears to teens during typical school hours. Animation: PinterestThe pop-up will only appear to minors aged 13 to 17, and only between 8AM and 3PM, Monday to Friday. It’s a large-scale test, which Pinterest says will reach “millions” of school-age users. It claims to be the first tech company testing this sort of “proactive” feature to help students focus, after CEO Bill Ready announced support for the Kids Online Safety Act and phone-free school policies.New York is close to implementing a statewide ban on phone use during the school day, and several other states already have policies limiting or prohibiting phone use. In Europe, countries like Denmark and the Netherlands have already banned phones in schools and France recently announced that teens will have to lock their phones away while at school from the next academic year.Pinterest has also announced a $1 million grant to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to “support school leaders in creating a healthy digital culture in their schools.” The money will fund task forces across 12 US school districts to develop policies that “improve students’ digital wellbeing.”“At Pinterest, we believe that schools can take advantage of all that technology has to offer students, while minimizing the harms and distractions,” said Wanji Walcott, Pinterest’s chief legal and business affairs officer. “Tech companies need to work together with teachers, parents, and policymakers to build solutions that ensure in the hands of our students, smartphones are tools, not distractions.”See More:

If you’re among the many who have ventured into a cinema recently to watch A Minecraft Movie, you’ll remember Jack Black’s short but sweet song celebrating the lava chicken moment around halfway through the film.Black, who plays Steve, sings a song called Lava Chicken as Jason Momoa and co watch a chicken cook from falling lava. It’s just 34 seconds long, but that hasn’t stopped it from going viral across social media.And now, Steve’s Lava Chicken has debuted at No. 21 on the UK’s official chart, becoming the shortest song ever to chart. "Streaming + virality are reshaping hits,” ERA, the UK’s digital entertainment and retail association, said.PlayBlack is no stranger to viral video game songs. Bowser's 95-second long romantic ode to Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, aptly named "Peaches" (sung and co-written by Jack Black), made the Billboard Hot 100. It was the first song in Black's solo career to land on the list. He previously debuted at No. 78 with the 2006 song "The Pick of Destiny" as a member of Tenacious D.Other short songs to chart include 2007 Simpsons Movie song Spider Pig (64 seconds) and Liam Lynch’s 2002 punk hit United States of Whatever (86 seconds).Lava Chicken isn’t the only thing from A Minecraft Movie to go viral. Clips of overly enthusiastic cinemagoers spread like wildfire across the likes of TikTok, with some bringing in live chickens to screenings of the film.We’ve got plenty more on A Minecraft Movie, including how the Minecraft movie team had a private server they played on. A Minecraft Movie has officially surpassed $700 million at the worldwide box office, and is on course to be the highest-grossing video game movie of all time.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Apple’s replacement of the iPhone SE with the iPhone 16e raised an obvious question: Would the ad-hoc update schedule for the SE series also be replaced with an annual refresh, kicking off with an iPhone 17e? A leaker with the right credentials to answer this question said back in February they believed the answer to be yes, and the same source says there is now solid evidence for this … Apple’s previous name for its entry-level phone wasn’t accidental. By calling it the iPhone SE, and avoiding the use of numbers, the company was free to issue updates on any schedule of its choosing. Accordingly, we saw completely freeform update plans. The original model launched in 2016, with a four-year wait for the 2nd-gen in 2020, followed by the 3rd-gen model two years later. By opting instead for iPhone 16e nomenclature, Apple appeared to be pointing to an annual update. Fixed focus digital, the leaker who first revealed that name said back in February that this was indeed the plan. A source shared a little information: “e model” is likely to be available in the next generation. At present, a new project code has been seen, which is suspected to be 17e. Work on the iPhone 17e already well advanced The same source now says that Apple is already working on designing the production line for next year’s model, and that it will soon enter trial production. The setup of the 17e production line is being planned. This answers the question: There will be a 17e next year, and now it is almost in the trial production stage. Trial production – otherwise referred to as “new product introduction” – is the point at which Foxconn sets up a small-scale version of the planned production line. It uses this to make small batches of the phone. The purpose is to identify any problems with the planned process, as well as to identify opportunities for refinement and streamlining in the full-scale production lines. 9to5Mac’s Take Evidence for the iPhone 17e is now significantly stronger than it was back in February. At this point, it seems more likely than not. There are a couple of disclaimers to add about the annual update idea, however. First, Apple has in the past kept older iPhone models on sale as more affordable options, so the company clearly isn’t afraid to have ‘outdated’ model numbers in its line-up. The launch of an iPhone 17e doesn’t necessarily imply a new model every year. Second, Apple experiments with non-core models. The mini was dropped when it didn’t generate enough sales, and we’re expecting the Plus to be dropped next year. The company may well have current plans for the e models to be an annual update, but everything will depend on how well it sells. Highlighted accessories Image: 9to5Mac collage of images from Apple and Sincerely Media on Unsplash Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Lisa Morgan, Freelance WriterApril 22, 20257 Min ReadFirn via Alamy StockEffective technology leadership today prioritizes people as much as technology. Just ask Angelic Gibson, CIO at accounts payable software provider AvidXchange. Gibson began her career in 1999 as a software engineer and used her programming and people skills to consistently climb the corporate ladder, working for various companies including mattress company Sleepy’s and cosmetic company Estee Lauder. By the time she landed at Stony Brook University, she had worked her way up to technology strategist and senior software engineer/architect before becoming director, IT operations for American Tire distributors. By 2013, she was SVP, information technology for technology solutions provider TKXS and for the past seven years she’s been CIO at AvidXchange. “I moved from running large enterprise IT departments to SaaS companies, so building SaaS platforms and taking them to market while also running internal IT delivery is what I’ve been doing for the past 13 years. I love building world class technology that scales,” says Gibson. “It's exciting to me because technology is hard work and you’re always a plethora of problems, so you wake up every day, knowing you get to solve difficult, complex problems. Very few people handle complex transformations well, so getting to do complex transformations with really smart people is invigorating. It inspires me to come to work every day.” Related:Angelic GibsonOne thing Gibson and her peers realized is that AI is anything but static. Its capabilities continue to expand as it becomes more sophisticated, so human-machine partnerships necessarily evolve. Many organizations have experienced significant pushback from workers who think AI is an existential threat. Organizations downsizing through intelligent automation, and the resulting headlines, aren’t helping to ease AI-related fears. Bottom line, it’s a change management issue that needs to be addressed thoughtfully. “Technology has always been about increasing automation to ensure quality and increase speed to market, so to me, it's just another tool to do that,” says Gibson. “You’ve got to meet people where they're at, so we do a lot of talking about fears and constraints. Let’s put it on the table, let’s talk about it, and then let’s shift to the art of the possible. What if [AI] doesn't take your job? What could you be doing?” The point is to get employees to reimagine their roles. To facilitate this, Gibson identified people who could be AI champions, such as principal senior engineers who would love to automate lower level thinking so they can spend more time thinking critically. Related:“What we have found is we’ve met resistance from more senior level talent versus new talent, such as individuals working in business units who have learned AI to increasingly automate their roles,” says Gibson. “We have tons of use cases like that. Many employees have automated their traditional business operations role and now they're helping us increase automation throughout the enterprise.” Making AI Fun to Learn Today’s engineers are constantly learning to keep pace with technology changes. Gibson has gamified learning by showcasing who’s leveraging AI in interesting ways, which has increased productivity and quality while impacting AvidXchange customers in a positive way. “We gamify it through hackathons and showcase it to the whole company at an all-hands meeting, just taking a moment to recognize awesome work,” says Gibson. “And then there are the brass tacks: We’ve got to get work done and have real productivity gains that we're accountable for driving.” Over the last five years, Gibson has been creating a learning environment that curates the kinds of classes she wants every technologist to learn and understand, such as a prompt engineering certification course. Their progress is also tracked. Related:“We certify compliance and security annually. We do the same thing, with any new tech skill that we need our teammates to learn,” says Gibson. “We have them go through certification and compliance training on that skill set to show that they’re participating in the training. It doesn't matter if you’re a business analyst or an engineer, everyone's required to do it, because AI can have a positive impact in any role.” Establish a Strong Foundation for Learning Gibson has also established an AI Center of Excellence (CoE), made up of 22 internal AI thought leaders who are tasked with keeping up with all the trends. The group is responsible for bringing in different GenAI tools and deep learning technologies. They’re also responsible for running proofs of concept (POC). When the project is ready for production, the CoE ensures it has passed all AvidXchange cybersecurity requirements. “Any POC must prove that it's going to add value,” says Gibson. “We’re not just throwing a slew of technology out there for technology’s sake, so we need to make sure that it’s fit for purpose and that it works in our environment.” To help ensure the success of projects, Gibson has established a hub and spoke operating model, so every business unit has an AI champion that works in partnership with the CoE. In addition, AvidXchange made AI training mandatory as of January 2024, because AI is central to its account payables solution. In fact, the largest customer use cases have achieved 99% payment processing accuracy using AI to extract data from PDFs and do quality checks, though humans do a final review to ensure that level of accuracy.  “What we’ve done is to take our customer-facing tool sets or internal business operations and hook it up to that data model. It can answer questions like, ‘What’s the status of my payment?’ We are now turning the lights on for AI agents to be available to our internal and external customer bases.” Some employees working in different business units have transitioned to Gibson’s team specifically to work on AI. While they don’t have the STEM background traditional IT candidates have, they have deep domain expertise. AvidXchange upskills these employees on STEM so they can understand how AI works. “If you don't understand how an AI agent works, it’s hard for you to understand if it’s hallucinating or if you're going to have quality issues,” says Gibson. “So, we need to make sure the answers are sound and accurate by making the agents quote their sources, so it’s easier for people to validate outputs.” Focus on Optimization and Acceleration Instead of looking at AI as a human replacement, Gibson believes it’s wiser to harness an AI-assisted ways of working to increase productivity and efficiency across the board. For example, AvidXchange specifically tracks KPIs designed to drive improvement. In addition, its success targets are broken down from the year to quarters and months to ensure the KPIs are being met. If not, the status updates enable the company to course correct as necessary. “We have three core mindsets: Connected as people, growth-minded, and customer-obsessed. Meanwhile, we’re constantly thinking about how we can go faster and deliver higher quality for our customers and nurture positive relationships across the organization so we can achieve a culture of candor and care,” says Gibson. “We have the data so we can see who’s adopting tools and who isn’t, and for those who aren’t, we have a conversation about any fear they may have and how we can work through that together. We [also] want a good ecosystem of proven technologies that are easy to use. It’s also important that people know they can come to us because it’s a trusted partnership.” She also believes success is a matter of balance.  “Any time you make a sweeping change that feels urgent, the human component can get lost, so it’s important to bring people along,” says Gibson. “There’s this art right now of how fast you can go safely while not losing people in the process. You need to constantly look at that to make sure you’re in balance.” About the AuthorLisa MorganFreelance WriterLisa Morgan is a freelance writer who covers business and IT strategy and emerging technology for InformationWeek. She has contributed articles, reports, and other types of content to many technology, business, and mainstream publications and sites including tech pubs, The Washington Post and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Frequent areas of coverage include AI, analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, mobility, software development, and emerging cultural issues affecting the C-suite.See more from Lisa MorganReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Abridge was founded in 2018 with the mission of powering deeper understanding in healthcare. Our AI-powered platform was purpose-built for medical conversations, improving clinical documentation efficiencies while enabling clinicians to focus on what matters most—their patients.Our enterprise-grade technology transforms patient-clinician conversations into structured clinical notes in real-time, with deep EMR integrations. Powered by Linked Evidence and our purpose-built, auditable AI, we are the only company that maps AI-generated summaries to ground truth, helping providers quickly trust and verify the output. As pioneers in generative AI for healthcare, we are setting the industry standards for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.We are a growing team of practicing MDs, AI scientists, PhDs, creatives, technologists, and engineers working together to empower people and make care make more sense. We have offices located in the SoHo neighborhood of New York, the Mission District in San Francisco, and Lawrenceville in Pittsburgh.The RoleWe are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Senior Sales Enablement Marketing Manager focusing on Commercial Enablement to join our dynamic team as we scale the most trusted AI solution for clinical conversations. This role is crucial for ensuring the success of our sales and partner success teams by providing the tools, resources, and support they need to effectively sell our AI technology solutions to enterprise healthcare systems. The ideal candidate will be highly cross-functional, organized, and capable of operationalizing and executing sales enablement strategies. This is a hybrid role in NYC with a weekly requirement of being in the office Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday.What You’ll Do Commercial Enablement StrategyDevelop and implement a comprehensive sales enablement strategy that aligns with commercial goals and objectives.Build out prioritization processes that enable sales teams to request sales assets and track progress in a central way. Track and analyze key performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of sales enablement initiatives and identify areas for improvement.Content Development Create and maintain enablement content, including sales playbooks, training materials, and product marketing collateral.Drive and execute on the development of customized presentations and proposals for the sales team.Partner with Revenue Operations to conduct regular training sessions and workshops for the sales team on product updates, sales techniques, and industry trends.Support onboarding programs for new sales hires to ensure rapid ramp-up and productivity.Cross-Functional CollaborationWork closely with sales, marketing, and product to ensure alignment and effective communication.Coordinate with subject matter experts to gather and disseminate relevant information to the sales team.Ensure all enablement materials are accurate, up-to-date, and aligned with the company’s messaging and brand standards.Manage multiple requests and projects simultaneously, maintaining a high level of organization and attention to detail.What You’ll Bring Minimum of 6-8 years of experience in sales enablement, preferably within the healthcare revenue cycle technology sector Strong understanding of enterprise healthcare systems and the purchasing committee within executive leadership teams. Proven ability to develop and execute commercial enablement strategies that drive results.Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across departments with differing priorities.Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.Exception proficiency in sales enablement tools and slide-building.Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.An entrepreneurial spirit and proactive, resourceful mindset to drive innovation and continually improve sales processes.Why work at Abridge?At Abridge, we’re driven by our mission to bring understanding and follow-through to every medical conversation. Our culture is founded on doing things the “inverse” way in a legacy system—focusing on patients, instead of the system; focusing on outcomes, instead of billing; and focusing on the end-user experience, instead of a hospital administrator's mandate.Abridgers are engineers, scientists, designers, and health policy experts from a diverse set of backgrounds—an experiment in alchemy that helps us transform an industry dominated by EHRs and enterprise into a consumer-driven experience, one recording at a time. We believe in strong ideas, loosely held, and place a high premium on a growth mindset. We push each other to grow and expose each other to the latest in our respective fields. Whether it’s holding a PhD-level deep dive into understanding fairness and underlying bias in machine learning models, debating the merits of a Scandinavian design philosophy in our UI/UX, or writing responses for Medicare rules to influence U.S. health policy, we prioritize sharing our findings across the team and helping each other be successful.How we take care of Abridgers:Generous Time Off: 13 paid holidays, flexible PTO for salaried employees, and accrued time off for hourly employees.Comprehensive Health Plans: Medical, Dental, and Vision plans for all full-time employees. Abridge covers 100% of the premium for you and 75% for dependents. If you choose a HSA-eligible plan, Abridge also makes monthly contributions to your HSA. Paid Parental Leave: 16 weeks paid parental leave for all full-time employees.401k and Matching: Contribution matching to help invest in your future.Pre-tax Benefits: Access to Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Commuter Benefits.Learning and Development Budget: Yearly contributions for coaching, courses, workshops, conferences, and more.Sabbatical Leave: 30 days of paid Sabbatical Leave after 5 years of employment.Compensation and Equity: Competitive compensation and equity grants for full time employees.... and much more!Diversity & InclusionAbridge is an equal opportunity employer. Diversity and inclusion is at the core of what we do. We actively welcome applicants from all backgrounds (including but not limited to race, gender, educational background, and sexual orientation).Staying safe - Protect yourself from recruitment fraudWe are aware of individuals and entities fraudulently representing themselves as Abridge recruiters and/or hiring managers. Abridge will never ask for financial information or payment, or for personal information such as bank account number or social security number during the job application or interview process. Any emails from the Abridge recruiting team will come from an @abridge.com email address. You can learn more about how to protect yourself from these types of fraud by referring to this article. Please exercise caution and cease communications if something feels suspicious about your interactions. Apply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now Meet JobCopilot: Your Personal AI Job HunterAutomatically Apply to Remote Sales and Marketing JobsJust set your preferences and Job Copilot will do the rest-finding, filtering, and applying while you focus on what matters. Activate JobCopilot