How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play
MIT Technology Review
Our in-depth reporting on innovation reveals and explains what’s happening now to help you know what’s coming next.
To make them feel alive, open-world video games are inhabited by vast crowds of computer-controlled characters. These animated people—called NPCs, for “nonplayer characters”—make these virtual worlds feel lived in and full. Often—but not always—you can talk to them. After a while, however, the repetitive chitchat (or threats) of a passing stranger forces you to bump up against the truth: This is just a game. It’s still fun, but the illusion starts to weaken when you poke at it. But it may not always be like that. In this edition of What’s Next in Tech, discover how generative AI is reshaping video games and what it means to play.
Deepfakes are proliferating online thanks to advances in generative AI. Join MIT Technology Review reporters and editors for a fascinating discussion on LinkedIn Live about the rise of deepfakes including the risks they pose and some interesting positive uses. Register for free today.
AI-powered NPCs that don’t need a script could make games—and other worlds—deeply immersive.
Just as it’s upending other industries, generative AI is opening the door to entirely new kinds of video game interactions that are open-ended, creative, and unexpected.
Startups employing generative-AI models, like ChatGPT, are using them to create video game characters that don’t rely on scripts but, instead, converse with you freely. Others are experimenting with NPCs who appear to have entire interior worlds, and who can continue to play even when you, the player, are not around to watch. Eventually, generative AI could create game experiences that are infinitely detailed, twisting and changing every time you experience them.
The field is still very new, but it’s extremely hot. In 2022 the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz launched Games Fund, a $600 million fund dedicated to gaming startups. A huge number of these are planning to use AI in gaming. And the firm has now invested in two studios that are aiming to create their own versions of AI NPCs. A second $600 million round was announced in April 2024.
Early experimental demos of these experiences are already popping up, and it may not be long before they appear in full games. But some in the industry believe this development will not just make future open-world games incredibly immersive; it could change what kinds of game worlds or experiences are even possible. Ultimately, it could change what it means to play. Read the story to learn how startups are employing AI in gaming and what it means for the future of games.
The July/August issue of MIT Technology Review takes an exclusive look at groundbreaking innovations in technology, including an artificial surf pool, high-tech running sneakers, and hyperrealistic deepfakes. Subscribe today to save up to 17% and gain access to every story.
Get ahead with these related stories:
- My colleagues turned me into an AI-powered NPC. I hate him. — Take a look behind the controls of a new way to create video-game characters that engage with players in unique, ever-changing ways.
- How gamification took over the world — Gamification was always just behaviorism dressed up in pixels and point systems. Why did we fall for it?
- These board games want you to beat climate change—This is what board games featuring climate change, including a new version of Catan, tell us about grand problems, and ourselves.
Image: George Wylesol
Writer, Researcher, AI adviser, Artist, Digital Experience Specialist - @ DB Schenker. OpenAI Community Ambassador. Digital Resident. Exploring human-machine creative collaboration.
1wVery interesting. This includes not only the diversification of NPCs but also of assets. Even in AAA games, you stumble upon the same assets in different locations, like the same posters, books, and paintings in different apartments, houses, and cities you are exploring. For game designers, it's the way to save time and clone the same asset 1000x around the digital open world. But for players, it's again the meta-level "it's a game." Thus, generative AI can enrich the digital world without stressing out game developers. After all, we, as players, want them alive and not completely exhausted.
29+ IT and Telco International Experience | Accelerating 4G/5G in MEA | Strategy | Digital Transformation | RAN
1wThe challenge will be to have enough text and lore material to train such LLMs that will replace the NPCs. I can imagine how nice it would be to have a dynamic conversation with a NPC that would decide the next quest or next fight outcome 😂
Security Automation Engineer | AI/ML Engineer | Summa Cum Laude M.A. Philosophy | AI trainer @ Outlier.ai
1wThis is the future of gaming no doubt. Leveraging A.I. for immersion. However, this implies a lot of cybersecurity problems and ethical issues to be addresed. Philosphy provides an invaluable, but often overlooked framework of knowledge and skills to tackle said issues.
Technology Consulting Manager at Accenture
1wLove these developments. I would imagine we’ll have generative action from gaming agents soon. These agents not only converse naturally but also drop subliminal advertising messages to the players. That is probably how these NPCs will pay off their debts to their LLM masters. I am sure companies will figure out a good revenue model for these implementations. I am worried about the energy needs 😬
Yes good idea, Boštjan Dolinšek