Ubisoft Is Trying To Make AI NPCs That Have 'Real Conversations'

Ubisoft is using AI hoping to create a new kind of NPC that players can have more in-depth conversations with beyond predetermined lines of dialogue. Ubisoft’s NEO NPC project is aiming to use generative AI to create NPCs that use their prewritten backstory and personality to create responses on the fly, aiming to create a “real conversation.”

As detailed in a blog post, NEO NPC has been in the works at Ubisoft Paris, utilizing Nvidia’s Audio2Face and Inworld’s Large Language Model. The goal is to have narrative designers still create characters, writing their personality and backstory, and teaching the model to react to players accordingly. The project is claimed to have barriers in place to prevent players from completely breaking a game or getting a profane reaction by using a profane input.

Conversations with in-game characters are getting more real!
Presenting our research project, NEO NPCs, a new kind of NPC that uses generative AI to really talk to you! Discover how our team of writers and developers are coming together in this exciting experiment:… pic.twitter.com/FvvyvXWZKu

— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) March 19, 2024

The NPCs created by the project won’t have complete freedom to respond to players and are instead limited by their role in the story and their personal character arcs, if they have one. As for players just feeding nonsense to the NPCs, data scientist Mélanie Lopez Malet said that it would result in “garbage in, garbage out.”

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