In the CES 2024 special speech, Nvidia introduced the latest developments in its Avatar Cloud Engine technology (ACE).
ACE Senior Product Manager Seth Schneider presented a dialogue interaction between game players and AI NPCs (non playable characters) generated using ACE technology. In the demonstration clip, Schneider can have a smooth and natural conversation with the NPCs in the game:
Compared to the research and development results disclosed last year, NVIDIA also demonstrated automatic dialogue between two game NPCs driven by ACE technology at CES 2024:
In the above illustration, Jin, the owner of Lamian Noodles shop, and another NPC Nova are having a conversation generated by AI. The most important thing is that during each gameplay, the dialogue between Jin and Nova is unique.
In the traditional game production process, the dialogue between players and NPCs, as well as between NPCs, is pre made by the game copywriting team, usually fixed text, and the interaction experience is relatively rigid and rigid.
NVIDIA's ACE technology allows players to have natural and non repetitive conversations and interactions with NPCs, making game NPCs more intelligent and achieving true "speaking" like humans.
Schneider also showcased the latest AI NPC technology from the startup company Convai, which collaborates with Nvidia. It is reported that Convai's technology not only enables AI NPCs to engage in intelligent conversations, but these NPCs can also interact with objects in the environment.
In the demonstration, Schneider asked Jin, the owner of the Lamian Noodles shop, to take out some "good things", and Jin chose to take out a bottle of wine. In traditional gaming, Jin's choice of taking out wine is usually a reaction set by the game team in advance. But Convai's latest technology makes Jin's choices no longer fixed and singular.
As shown in the above figure, with the support of Convai's technology, AI NPCs will be able to interact with many items in the scene, including bowls, bottles, lights, and other props.
It can be imagined that when players give different requirements, Jin can use AI technology to understand the player's needs in real time and give different reactions each time based on specific needs.
"Generative AI technology is almost changing everything for us, and game creation is no exception." Keita Iida, Vice President of NVIDIA Developer Relations, believes that NVIDIA ACE technology opens up new possibilities for game developers, bringing lifelike virtual characters to the gaming world and greatly enhancing game immersion.
Nvidia officially said that many game developers are using its ACE technology to develop games, including Genshin Impact developers Mihayou, Tencent, NetEase and Ubisoft.
AI may reshape the gaming industry
Yue Zheng, an analyst at China Galaxy Securities, pointed out in a research report released in December that games, as commercial applications that combine text, images, sound, video and other forms of content, are expected to better utilize the ability of multimodal large models in research and development. AI technology will reshape the entire industry chain of the gaming industry through AIGC tools.
From the perspective of the commercial value of AI NPCs alone, AI NPCs can make personalized adaptations to players based on their behavior and game history, recommending more personalized game content and props to different players, thereby increasing ARPU value.
In addition, AI technology can empower the gaming industry from different aspects. For example, AI can provide efficient tools and algorithms for game art and programming applications, and can automate the basic repetitive work in game development; Furthermore, from an operational perspective, AI can also analyze player feedback and test data, generate user profiles, and assist game companies in implementing refined operations and marketing strategies, improving user engagement and payment conversion rates.
According to Gao Bowen, an analyst at Oriental Wealth Securities, AI has driven a dual increase in energy efficiency in the gaming industry and expanded the depth of content. From a content perspective, players have increasingly high demands for game quality. By embedding different AI in the game, it can provide players with a more immersive gaming experience by enhancing interactivity. Alternatively, AI can assist players in creating UGC, stimulate their creativity, and feed back the game content ecosystem.
Looking ahead to the future, Yue Zheng stated that innovative game gameplay, including AI NPCs, is expected to gradually be implemented, further improving user experience and willingness to pay, opening up the overall revenue growth space of games. The long-term catalytic effect of AI on the gaming industry is worth looking forward to.