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IGN: How AI Could Change Video Games Forever

IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


While it's true that video games have almost always used some form of AI in the game's engine, the meaning of AI within gaming is beginning to shift in a major way. With tools like Ubisoft Ghostwriter, artificial intelligence is about to change the way games are developed. In this video, we'll discuss the potential positive impacts that AI will have when developers can implement the tools readily available. We'll also be taking a look at the disruptive harm AI tools can be when they become dangerously close to taking away creative and top-level design decisions away from humans.
Click to expand...

  • 🕹️ The use of AI in video games is not new, but recent advancements in AI are set to bring significant changes to the industry, from more realistic NPCs to shortening development times.
  • 🕹️ AI is already being used in various ways in video games, such as creating procedurally generated levels, powering NPCs and enemies, and making moments in games more dynamic.
  • 🕹️ AI can improve the gaming experience for players, including enhancing graphics and improving NPCs' behavior and decision-making abilities.
  • 🕹️ AI can be used as a tool to ease the process of developing games, but it should not be the be-all and end-all of game creation. Human creators, designers, and artists will still be essential.
  • 🕹️ Ubisoft is one of the AAA developers already exploring the use of AI for NPC dialogue with their internal AI scriptwriting tool, Ghostwriter, freeing up their writers to work on high-level narrative work.

The Transformative Impact of AI on Video Games​

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the gaming industry, allowing developers to create more dynamic, realistic, and immersive gaming experiences. Unlike other trends like blockchain or the metaverse, AI is already an integral part of game development, and the question is not whether it will transform gaming, but rather how it will disrupt existing workflows. This article examines the transformative impact of AI on video games, its potential benefits and drawbacks, and how it is already changing the way games are designed, developed, and played.

The Role of AI in Video Games​

AI has been a part of video games for years, powering non-playable characters (NPCs), enemies, and boss fights. Games like No Man's Sky use machine learning to generate new planets for players to explore endlessly, while procedural level generation is another example of how AI is being used to create new gaming experiences without the need for human intervention. In games where AI is particularly impressive, critics often praise it, while lackluster AI can detract from the gaming experience.

One of the most exciting advancements in AI is the development of language models like chat GPT, which are improving NPCs to make them more realistic and believable. AI algorithms are being used to create NPCs that interact with players in more natural and dynamic ways, reacting to a player's actions, adapting to changing game conditions, and learning from their experiences. Companies like Nvidia are using AI to improve video game graphics without requiring users to upgrade to expensive hardware.

The Potential Impact of AI on Video Games​

The potential impact of AI on video games is immense, with the ability to create more realistic and immersive gaming experiences, shorten development times, and reduce costs. For example, Ubisoft has unveiled Ghostwriter, an internal AI scriptwriting tool that uses AI to create rough drafts of NPC chatter or barks, easing the process of creating dialogue for game developers.

However, the overreliance on AI could also have drawbacks, such as reducing creativity and limiting human involvement in the gaming process. While AI can make game development easier and more efficient, it should be treated as a tool rather than a replacement for human creativity and ingenuity. Game developers must use AI to enhance the gaming experience, not replace it.

Conclusion​

AI is already an integral part of video game development, and its impact will only continue to grow as technology advances. While AI has the potential to revolutionize gaming, it is important to strike a balance between using AI to enhance creativity and using it as a shortcut to bypass human ingenuity. As game developers continue to explore the possibilities of AI, it is crucial to remember that it is only a tool and should not replace the human element in creating immersive and engaging gaming experiences.
 
Topher

Topher

Identifies as young
"Ubisoft is one of the AAA developers already exploring the use of AI for NPC dialogue with their internal AI scriptwriting tool, Ghostwriter, freeing up their writers to work on high-level narrative work."

I say let Ubisoft writers do the grunt work with NPCs and let the AI have a go at the "high-level narrative work".

Happy GIF
 
Puscifer

Puscifer

Member
Feel like we're entering another Ray tracing situation that a feature meant to streamline development is about to be sold to gamers as a feature they really shouldn't be caring about.

Likely we're about to experience the same level of AI, just done quicker. Shit, I'd argue FEAR still has the best enemy AI I've ever experienced, every fight felt like you were against a human player the absolute ways they'd try to flush you out if tried to hide
 
Raven77

Raven77

Member
This article is laughably bad, leaving out some of the most interesting and impactful things AI will be doing for video game development.

1. Animation - AI is already being used by amateurs to create motion capture style animations. AMATEURS are doing this now nearly free of cost.

2. 3D model creation - Well what good is animation if you have no high quality 3D model to use it on? The amateurs are doing that too. There are now tools that translate objects, 2d AI art, etc into fully realized 3D models that can be put straight into a video game. Imagine a few people at a game studio pumping out production quality 3d models all day, hundreds of them, to fill your GTA style games city with countless objects.

3. Code writing - AI can already write code extremely well. Studios can use this to quickly implement new elements into their games as AI can quickly write scripts, etc.

4. AI voice acting - I didn't see this in the video but might have missed it. AI voices COMBINED with chat gpt style text generation can give NPCs limitless realistic interactions. GTA 6 for example could have this loaded into every NPC with them saying different things every time. Walk next to people and listen to conversations that are different every time, etc.

I've said this a few times but AMATEURS sitting in their houses are doing the above. Now imagine what a studio with hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal could do.

Overall IGN video rating: 4/10

90S No GIF
 
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hyperbertha

hyperbertha

Member
Raven77 said:
This article is laughably bad, leaving out some of the most interesting and impactful things AI will be doing for video game development.

1. Animation - AI is already being used by amateurs to create motion capture style animations. AMATEURS are doing this now nearly free of cost.

2. 3D model creation - Well what good is animation if you have no high quality 3D model to use it on? The amateurs are doing that too. There are now tools that translate objects, 2d AI art, etc into fully realized 3D models that can be put straight into a video game. Imagine a few people at a game studio pumping out production quality 3d models all day, hundreds of them, to fill your GTA style games city with countless objects.

3. Code writing - AI can already write code extremely well. Studios can use this to quickly implement new elements into their games as AI can quickly write scripts, etc.

4. AI voice acting - I didn't see this in the video but might have missed it. AI voices COMBINED with chat gpt style text generation can give NPCs limitless realistic interactions. GTA 6 for example could have this loaded into every NPC with them saying different things every time. Walk next to people and listen to conversations that are different every time, etc.

I've said this a few times but AMATEURS sitting in their houses are doing the above. Now imagine what a studio with hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal could do.

Overall IGN video rating: 4/10

90S No GIF
Click to expand...
What are the tools being used for each of the above?
 
The Fartist

The Fartist

Gold Member
SmokedMeat said:
I’m afraid to see where this is all going to lead us.
Terminator Sky Net shit for sure.
Click to expand...
Most likely, but I argue, who's to say this isn't just the next step in evolution? Why should we be the end-all-be-all? What if we're just one step to getting to the next? As Marshall McLuhan once said, what if we are the "sex organs of the machine world"? And our egos reject this inevitable outcome. Don't get me wrong though, I too don't want this to ever happen.
 
KXVXII9X

KXVXII9X

Member
I would highly welcome better A.I. when it comes to NPC behavior, motion matching animations, and bypassing limitations like the tech found in many Sony and Nintendo games, but I don't want it to really take over level/world design and character assets. I would still want things to be handcrafted with AI to aid.
 
Raven77

Raven77

Member
hyperbertha said:
What are the tools being used for each of the above?
Click to expand...

From what I can gather people are combining various tools / code from GitHub. Getting them to flow into one another and/or be compatible.

I highly recommend going to the stable diffusion subreddit. People are doing some crazy and exciting things and that's just a subset of all the ai things going on out there.
 
sachos

sachos

Member
Generative AI will transform all aspects of game creation: Art, code, sound/music, NPC/Narrative. And remember, AI right now is the worst its ever gonna be. Not sure how it could help about game design but im sure it somehow will get good at that too in our path towards AGI.

Indie games especially, we will start seeing more games being made by one person alone. For AAA i have hopes it will shorten dev times by quite a margin, so we can get back to dev times that allow for trilogies to form during the span of a generation.
 
S

scalman

Member
It will change many things..as they use more and more of it in game engines ..
I wish there would be game engine one day made on ai that would just made game for you as you want. No need waiting years for mocap of real actors voice captures and such...it should make creating games much faster ...i hope it will at least..and sooner better
 
B

Balducci30

Member
GhostNTheBashShell said:
Feel like we're entering another Ray tracing situation that a feature meant to streamline development is about to be sold to gamers as a feature they really shouldn't be caring about.

Likely we're about to experience the same level of AI, just done quicker. Shit, I'd argue FEAR still has the best enemy AI I've ever experienced, every fight felt like you were against a human player the absolute ways they'd try to flush you out if tried to hide
Click to expand...
AI is much more of a game changer than RT could ever hope to be. But probably the main benefit for the consumers is we’ll get shit a lot faster than we used to - but there will be a sophistication added to procedural generation with more actual effect on what’s possible to do in a video game. You’ll be able to enter every building in an open world at some point for example, and be able to interact with every npc, the generated quests will actually interesting.. there’s a lot of possiblities.
 
OuterLimits

OuterLimits

Member
ChatGpt is pretty awesome but sadly continues to be rather stupid when it comes to our solar system.(weeks ago it told me Uranus is the 7th largest planet)

Me: "So Mercury and Venus are the only planets in our solar system without moons correct?"

AI: "No, there are several other planets with no moons. Mars, along with dwarf planets Ceres and Vesta have no moons"(wrong on Mars and the damn AI is cheating by including friggin dwarf planets in the asteroid belt)

Me: "I believe Mars has two small moons name Phobos and Deimos"

AI. "I apologize for the error in my previous response. Yes, Mars does have two small irregularly shaped moons named Phobos and Deimos. Thank you for bringing this to my attention"
 
C

Cashon

Banned
Do games not already use some version of it for NPC animation? I've noticed in games like Hogwarts Legacy and Assassin's Creed Odyssey/Immortals Fenyx Rising that the NPCs are coded to do the same kinds of animations based on the context of what they're saying. Like pointing/slamming fist into have anytime dialogue has emphasis. Odyssey and Immortals use the exact same animations, for the most part. And they're repeated constantly, depending on connect. I found it really distracting when playing Odyssey, because it's much more noticable in that one and I played it a couple of years after Immortals.

And if this is the direction that AI will take games, then please no. Let's keep hiring animators and capture artists to have bespoke animations. I really hated seeing the same animations over and over in Odyssey.
 
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C

CGNoire

Member
Sigh...so sick of seeing the term AI being so succesfully distorted.
Non of this is actual AI. Word meanings matter goddammit. Non of this tech thinks for itself. Its all super high level pattern recognition and inter related scripting that is so complex that it appears to be AI. Not the real thing.

Oblivion using an algorithm for generating a realistic landscape is not AI.
AI is just a marketing term at this point and yes that includes the spookingly realistic chatgpt. Real AI is decades out.
 
EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
OuterLimits said:
ChatGpt is pretty awesome but sadly continues to be rather stupid when it comes to our solar system.(weeks ago it told me Uranus is the 7th largest planet)

Me: "So Mercury and Venus are the only planets in our solar system without moons correct?"

AI: "No, there are several other planets with no moons. Mars, along with dwarf planets Ceres and Vesta have no moons"(wrong on Mars and the damn AI is cheating by including friggin dwarf planets in the asteroid belt)

Me: "I believe Mars has two small moons name Phobos and Deimos"

AI. "I apologize for the error in my previous response. Yes, Mars does have two small irregularly shaped moons named Phobos and Deimos. Thank you for bringing this to my attention"
Click to expand...
3.5 or 4?
 
hyperbertha

hyperbertha

Member
CGNoire said:
Sigh...so sick of seeing the term AI being so succesfully distorted.
Non of this is actual AI. Word meanings matter goddammit. Non of this tech thinks for itself. Its all super high level pattern recognition and inter related scripting that is so complex that it appears to be AI. Not the real thing.

Oblivion using an algorithm for generating a realistic landscape is not AI.
AI is just a marketing term at this point and yes that includes the spookingly realistic chatgpt. Real AI is decades out.
Click to expand...
This is false. What you mean is consciousness. Much of real life intelligence is pattern recognition. Much of real life language is word prediction, just like chat gpt. The current ai we have qualify as intelligence, and gpt4 is as intelligent as the average person according to iq tests. Current ai does not think for itself. But it can think. Experts have theorized that further scaling of llms might even result in super general intelligence.
 
C

CGNoire

Member
I agree. Its seems intelligence doesnt have to be at human level for the term to be accurate. Though according to the online definitions of thinking or thought. AI in its current state isnt capaple of that yet.

From wikipedia:
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation.

Dictionary.com
verb (used without object), thought, think·ing.
to have a conscious mind, to some extent of reasoning, remembering experiences, making rational decisions, etc.
 
C

crackajack

Member
AI feels like the industrial revolution for silicon valley. Some suits will make big moneyz, but a lot of jobs, especially at support studios, will become obsolete. Those will just let all sorts of AIs do jobs where now dozens or hundreds of humans are necessary. At best some humans will stay for some quality control of that work, but the coming decade will be very interesting for bystanders, and hard for some. I guess my job is also at risk. AI doing some of my stuff also in some capacity. So not necessarily tomorrow but the more advanced it gets for the very high end and research stuff and streamlined for more and more cases, it will take over some day. Essentially even office jobs are not really that much different than manufacturing jobs were once. There some niches survive till today, robots are still not able to do some of the stuff, even Musk's gigafactories have some workers, but for most of the actual heavy lifting and volume manual labor is just costly/slow for any company unless you are in India were a bunch of sort of slaves are still cheaper than buying a machine or whatever but much of computer stuff will be no different as soon as those programms become that good in all sorts of areas and naturally much faster, working 24/7, no holidays, no nothing, probably just needing a few people checking the results for some time until they finished learning.
 
kyussman

kyussman

Member
Why am I always able to sneak up on enemies from the side in stealth games and they never see me......I'd be happy if they just fixed that,lol.
 
SportsFan581

SportsFan581

Member
Eventually you can be playing a game completely created by AI. It can start well until it veers into some strange direction like what happens if you just let two of the AI robots have a chat with each other. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
hyperbertha

hyperbertha

Member
CGNoire said:
I agree. Its seems intelligence doesnt have to be at human level for the term to be accurate. Though according to the online definitions of thinking or thought. AI in its current state isnt capaple of that yet.

From wikipedia:
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation.

Dictionary.com
verb (used without object), thought, think·ing.
to have a conscious mind, to some extent of reasoning, remembering experiences, making rational decisions, etc.
Click to expand...
So, I've given this stuff some thought over the past months. For me, there are two types of thinking, having an internal dialogue with ourselves, which constitutes our agency, and then thinking merely to retrieve information stored in the brain. The second type, is what chat gpt can do. We ask it something, and it will send the retrieval command through its vast store of neural connections to obtain the information stored therein. This is not too different from the way we respond when we are asked a question. We too send a retrieval command (called remembering) in order to access the store of info contained in out brain.

What chatgpt can't do, is the first type of thinking. It can't think for itself, which means it can't fulfill its own agenda no matter what that may be. For example, we have a survival agenda. Which means if someone is trying to destroy us, we are able to deduce that is not an ideal situation, and then deduce a way out of the situation. If someone tries to destroy chatgpt's server farm, it won't think in terms of survival. It doesn't even have an agenda to survive in the first place. Its only programmed mission is to answer questions.
 
hyperbertha

hyperbertha

Member
kyussman said:
Why am I always able to sneak up on enemies from the side in stealth games and they never see me......I'd be happy if they just fixed that,lol.
Click to expand...
Thing is if they have peripheral vision like actual humans stealth will be as hard as pulling it off in real life. Imagine getting spotted every time the enemy slightly turns their head. I'm sure plenty of devs have playtested with those parameters, and concluded its not fun.
 
L*][*N*K

L*][*N*K

Banned
Are those the people who review games and their scores contribute to MetaCritic and actually affect weather a game do well or don’t?
 
Raven77

Raven77

Member
hyperbertha said:
Eh this is just putting a filter on top of live action videos. Not seeing the 3d model animation used in games.
Click to expand...

Think big picture here. If a guy at his house can do this using ai, imagine what game devs can and will do with image manipulation and generation, animation, etc.

In the link I provided, imagine if you use AI to create a video game character model and then use the same overlay techniques to make a cutscene using that 3D model. All of that and much more is basically already being done by amateurs.
 
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IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


AI Week is still going strong, and now we're exploring why ChatGPT is taking over and how it's ignited an AI battle among big players like Microsoft and Google. Discover how these incredible AI models are transforming the way we interact with technology and how they're being integrated into Bing search and Google's Bard AI chatbot.

But this tech isn't all sunshine and rainbows. AI comes with its own set of challenges, like accuracy and ethical concerns. We'll uncover the potential risks and discuss the current debate around AI development and its future impact on our society.
Click to expand...

  • 💡 ChatGPT, a conversational AI model, was introduced by OpenAI in late 2022.
  • 💡 ChatGPT is available to the public and is capable of answering questions, conducting research, formatting data, and more applications.
  • 💡 ChatGPT brought AI into the mainstream and ignited an arms race among other major tech companies like Microsoft and Google to introduce their own takes on the technology.
  • 💡 More than 3.6 billion dollars have been invested in AI deals in the first quarter of 2023.
  • 💡 Conversational AI models use natural language processing to interpret the way people naturally talk into commands that a computer can understand.
  • 💡 ChatGPT is capable of not only understanding the things that people ask it but also replying with not just answers but solutions.
  • 💡 Microsoft and Google are developing their own conversational AI models.
  • 💡 The AI-powered Bing chatbot is available in a limited preview, while Google has rolled out the standalone Bard AI chatbot.
  • 💡 These chatbots are not always completely accurate and have been shown to sometimes present inaccurate or incomplete information.

The Rise of Chatbots and AI in Mainstream Culture​

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a buzzword for a long time, but it was not until late 2022 that OpenAI introduced Chat GPT, a conversational AI model that was not only highly functional but also available to the general public. Chat GPT is a chatbot capable of answering questions, conducting research, formatting data, and performing many other tasks using natural language processing (NLP).

What are chatbots?​

When interfacing with computers, people typically have to use specific commands, from something as simple as pressing a button all the way up to coding out an entire program that tells the computer what to do. Conversational AI models, on the other hand, use NLP to interpret the way people naturally talk into commands that a computer can understand. If you have ever asked Alexa or Siri a question or spoken to a customer service robot, it was using NLP to understand what you were asking and give you the answer you were looking for.

How Chat GPT works?​

Chat GPT takes things to the next level by not only understanding the things that people ask it but also replying with not just answers but solutions. For example, you can ask it how to clean the inside of a tank filled with piranhas, and it will give you a useful response. You could ask it to come up with date ideas or gift suggestions, use it as a creative writing assistant, or as an educational tool helping students learn a language by engaging them in conversation and offering tips on how to improve.

Impact of Chat GPT​

Chat GPT has brought AI into the mainstream, kicking off an arms race as other major tech companies scrambled to introduce their own takes on the technology, such as Google AI's Bard chatbot and Microsoft's Bing AI. In one sign of the ongoing AI gold rush, more than $3.6 billion has been invested in AI deals in the first quarter of 2023.

Microsoft and Google's Take on AI​

Microsoft partners with OpenAI, the makers of Chat GPT, and is already integrating that AI model into Bing search. Currently, the AI-powered Bing chatbot is available in a limited preview, though it's not hard at all to gain access, and it largely feels like you're talking to a search engine. Google, on the other hand, has rolled out the standalone Bard AI chatbot, which currently has a waiting list. Bard is built on Lambda, an AI model that's better at understanding and responding to natural language, making it better for having a conversation.

Limitations of Chatbots​

These chatbots are not all sunshine and rainbows, however. They are not always completely accurate and have been shown to sometimes present inaccurate or incomplete information, sometimes making up answers whole cloth.

In conclusion, conversational AI models like Chat GPT have made AI accessible to the general public and brought it into the mainstream. As more people become familiar with these chatbots and their capabilities, we can expect to see even more innovative uses for AI in the future.
 
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