The gaming industry is looking more and more boldly towards artificial intelligence. It turns out that market giants such as Ubisoft and Tencent see potential in tools based on artificial intelligence. One of the main reasons for this interest is said to be AI NPCs, i.e. interactive side characters, powered by a system created by Nvidia. Will every NPC in games soon be an independent, digital entity?
AI NPCs are a way to cross further barriers
In computer games, one of the most important factors influencing their attractiveness is immersion. This is the realism of the presented world. Although games today are extremely realistic and immersive, the gaming industry has decided to cross another threshold that until now seemed only a distant future. This threshold is to be realistically presented side characters, powered by artificial intelligence. Thanks to this, the conversation with such an AI NPC will be completely natural.
In March 2023, the technology giant Nvidia showed its own engine, which in the near future will allow building worlds in which passersby will not be just a scripted mass of textures. Such AI NPCs will be able to simulate natural reactions, start a conversation on a specific topic and behave in a way that is unpredictable for the player. This completely changes things, because the game with AI NPCs will resemble the real world even more.
Ubisoft and Tencent interested in the concept of AI NPCs
According to industry rumors, Ubisoft and Tencent are showing increased interest in the solutions presented by Nvidia over the last year. Of course, we are talking about AI NPCs, which can significantly change the replayability of games. NPCs powered by artificial intelligence would be able to make each game look different for each player. The seeds of such a concept were visible in, for example, Red Dead Redemption 2, where NPCs reacted to the player's behavior in various, often random ways.
Nvidia's AI NPC tools are expected to expand this concept by light years. AI NPCs will be able to conduct conversations in real time, without scripted responses. Of course, this raises a number of technical questions, such as the voice of dubbing actors. AI technology also brings a solution to this issue, as both ChatGPT and other AI tools are already able to generate very realistic-sounding voice tones. Everything indicates that soon computer games will be indistinguishable from the world around us.
