According to Ubisoft the team is working with Nvidia's Audio2Face and Inworld's language model, fpr a project dubbed NEO NPC.

The idea is to see how players can interact with NPCs without losing the game's authenticity or the NPCs' unique characters.

Ubisoft's Senior VP of Production Technology Guillemette Picard said the drive for realness has led to a joint effort between artists and scientists.

He said that the core of all generative AI projects is to better the gaming experience, keeping human creativity as the driving force.

"We always keep our players and developers in mind when creating our projects. Generative AI is only worthwhile if it adds value for them."

Narrative Director Virginie Mosser said she wants NPCs are more than just programmed codes; they have personalities given to them by writers., the, has spent over a year developing characters for the project, a task she finds both challenging and rewarding.

"For the first time, I can talk to the characters I've created," Mosser said.

Data Scientist Mélanie Lopez Malet has been key in teaching the model to reflect the writer's vision, using a mix of data analysis and storytelling techniques. Malet's love for literature and storytelling fuels her drive to create NPCs that feel authentically human.

Malet explains that a language model is a collection of ideas and data that suggest words that could go together. The trick is to guide the model to follow the writer's concept, making it act like the character it's meant to be. "We're always checking if the model stays true to the character," Malet says.

The ongoing development of characters also helps keep the story on track, making sure NPCs respond correctly to players. The team has put in safeguards to prevent players from disrupting the game with unsuitable inputs.

NEO NPC is still in the prototype stage, but if it all works games should become more engaging and immersive.

Ubisoft is showing the project off at GDC 2024 and is getting mixed reviews.