There Is A Great Squandering Of Potential When It Comes To AI In Video Games

Headlines as of late screech of the corners cut using AI in the development of video games.

Activision has been found to use AI for a great deal of their newer releases, map designs, likely coding, definitively for design on various DLC packs and voices for their characters.

I offer an alternative - allow me to spin a hypothetical for you.

An open world RPG of some sort, where in the background, an LLM (Large Language Model), is running. A new chat will exist for every individual character.

Each character has their own dialect, speaking style, etc.

Each character, more importantly, has a text file within the game's actual files which outlines their own personal histories - where they came from, what they've done, etc.

These files would also dictate what current knowledge they have pertaining to the world around them and events within it.

Another file would have their opinions and beliefs relating to what was happening, as well as how extreme these views were - these would be tied to numeric values affected by conversation, events in game, and the consensus of those around them.

As such, imagine a game - perhaps one like Fallout 1 or 2 - where you traverse a land where a large scale conflict could take place, and you can recruit or destroy absolutely everyone - via conversation with the NPCs, driven by finely tuned, hand crafted, character AI's running locally.

It would likely be a few years before we get all LLM software optimized enough to run on the average GPU alongside a game to serve as it's conduit - but imagine a world where there is a unique reaction to absolutely everything that you do. Average citizens in towns in the middle of nowhere would hear tell of your great or terrible deeds, and react by greeting you as either a celebrity, or as some dark omen set loose on their town.

Personally speaking, I think it would be far more interesting, and would be looked upon more favorably, than the way that AI has been utilized to date by companies that are deemed "too big to fail".