Ubisoft Reveals Generative AI “NEO NPCs”

AI has been the topic of primary discussion at GDC 2024. Roblox has announced a new character creator using generative technology. Popular graphics card company NVIDIA has unveiled a new chip powered by AI which has sent its stock price to the roof. Finally, Ubisoft demonstrated the power to create prototypes for Newly Evolving (NEO) NPCs in partnership with Inworld AI. During the event, Ubisoft gave off a brief presentation discussing this "experiment". While the demos were playable, they were described as "independent proof of concept." Still, this represents one of the world's first working examples of generative AI utilized in a player-facing role from a major studio. Ubisoft said the typical approach to NPCs that use generative AI includes implementing large language model (LLM) mods for standard games that use ChatGPT-like dialogue options. Unfortunately, this only delivers "shallow" and often "empty" results in practice, and does not actually impact gameplay. Therefore, the goal with NEO NPCs is to merge roleplay with gameplay. The demos served as examples of what this technology could be used for in practice. The first example involves a conversation with Bloom, an ageless man in a beanie and denim shirt who is a member of the Resistance, and desires to know the player to "check if we have a compatible vibe." You have several objectives, including to befriend him, find out more about certain topics, and more, which tie into the conversation. The conversation uses voice-to-text where you hold down a button and speak into a microphone. The second example has Bloom talking with you again, with real-time reactions to an in-game screen that shows a drone creeping toward an enemy location. Bloom reacts by yelling "enemy soldier spotted" while chatting with the player and offering conversation prompts related to the mission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK7aplOLly8 The third example includes talking with a character named Iron. In a GTA heist-style setup, you observe a floor plan of the enemy base. Iron asks how you desire to approach it and reacts in accordance with what you say. There is a list of playable options including grappling to the building, using smoke grenades, and more. Many journalists drew parallels between the interaction with Bloom and Peter Molyneux's demo at E3 2009 of Project Milo, which promised similar results. By progressing through the demos, characters remember what was spoken about prior. However, they appeared to still face similar limitations to traditional chatbots driven by LLMs. Almost none of the dialogue would make it past a human editor. Still, the NPCs can react with almost infinite possibilities to what is said to them, and tether the reactions to in-game quests, scenarios, objectives, and more. Still, Ubisoft asserts that NEO NPCs set themselves apart by the "walls" set by humans. This means if you suggest an action that does not fall into one of the pre-set solutions, you will not be able to do it. This leaves players with an experience similar to a standard game, but with infinite conversations on top that are meant to add to immersion. In other words, roleplay, but not gameplay. According to the FAQ section of Inworld AI's official website, there is no mention of training data for the models in use. However, it states that the technology used for the partnership with Ubisoft is unique: "We have 20+ models that drive our characters. This includes non-LLM models like emotions, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and more. For LLMs, we dynamically switch between LLM APIs and our own proprietary models depending on which is best for the conversational context and latency. Our goal is to provide you with the best and fastest answers. We understand the strengths of the individual LLM APIs and our own models, and dynamically query the one that will provide the best character experience." At the same briefing for NEO NPCs, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot described generative AI as merely another technology to test out.

Recent Posts