Internet roasts Ubisoft\u2019s NPC AI as \u201csoulless\u201d UbisoftUbisoft just showcased a prototype of its generative AI NPC technology, and the internet is roasting it as a \u201csoulless\u201d development. The chase for realism in video games has been a driving force of innovation in the industry ever since the beginning. This is what led to Unreal Engine\u2019s stunning graphic fidelity, or the creation of VR to better immerse ourselves in the world of games. Ubisoft\u2019s idea for greater realism is what\u2019s now led us to the company\u2019s new generative AI NPC called Project NEO NPC. This technological advancement was showcased for the first time at GDC 2024 on March 19. However, the idea of AI-generated NPCs hasn\u2019t exactly gone over very well with most gamers on the internet. \u201cSo your games will be even more soulless? I thought that\u2019s impossible,\u201d a commenter wrote in response to Ubisoft\u2019s tweet announcing the project. \u201cThey aren\u2019t \u2018really talking\u2019 to you. You are setting up your game to be completely devoid of characters with any type of personality.\u201d Others also decried the sidelining of writers with the new technology. \u201cNobody wants this except obsessive tech bros. How about paying writers to do something interesting and on-theme?\u201d said one Twitter user. \u201cVideo games are a 200 billion dollar market. You can afford to pay writers and actors so there\u2019s at least an ounce of art left in what is clearly just a money-grab product to you.\u201d Despite the player concerns, it seems Ubisoft was already well aware of how controversial their AI NPC would be, or at least understanding that players wouldn\u2019t take kindly to the idea. In their blog post delving into the project, the devs admitted that generative AI is a \u201chot topic of conversation in the video game industry\u201d. However, the Ubisoft devs say that NEO NPC is ultimately still a prototype and needs a lot of work, before it reaches the market in any capacity. Though in funding this research, they see a future where AI and storytelling can somehow live side by side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Internet roasts Ubisoft\u2019s NPC AI as \u201csoulless\u201d UbisoftUbisoft just showcased a prototype of its generative AI NPC technology, and the internet is roasting it as a \u201csoulless\u201d development. The chase for realism in video games has been a driving force of innovation in the industry ever since the beginning. This is what led to Unreal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}