PUBG and inZoi are getting AI companions described as Co-Playable Characters (CPCs).
Krafton, the South Korean company behind both games, announced it was working with Nvidia to bring these AI teammates into each title.
A CPC is an AI companion that can interact with gamers, enabled by an on-device SLM (Small Language Model) built with Nvidia’s Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) technology, Krafton said.
“Unlike traditional NPCs (non-player characters), CPCs are equipped with the ability to interact and cooperate with users, as they understand and respond to game situations in a human-like manner,” the company continued.
Krafton said they can be instructed to coordinate and cooperate with players by using the language model built with ACE. Specifically in PUBG, CPCs will introduce a new SLM-powered companion called “Ally” that can communicate verbally and team up with the player. “Players can converse and strategize with their AI-powered CPC companion just like they would a human teammate, greatly enhancing gameplay,” Krafton said.
In a video showing off the tech, the PUBG player uses voice comms to ask their Ally to keep an eye out for a vest and ammo. The Ally finds both and lets their human teammate know via voiced dialogue and a ping. The Ally also tells their human teammate that they’ve spotted an enemy and are providing covering fire. Later, the player asks if there’s a vehicle nearby, and the Ally announces they’ve found one and will “come to you.” The player asks their Ally to flank in a firefight and they oblige, again using voice comms to communicate. The Ally will even engage in a spot of banter upon victory.
The idea, clearly, is to replicate a human teammate as realistically as possible with AI speech, fuelled by the SLM. We’ve seen AI teammates help humans out in many video games in the past, and they’ll do similar things to what’s on show here. The difference now is you get some slightly stilted speech from your companion to simulate in-game voice comms.
It works different in inZoi, Krafton’s The Sims competitor. Here, citizens, known as “Zois,” interact and make choices based on their “free will and life experiences” in real-time. “Zois will follow fashion trends, spread rumors, develop reputations and more, powered by the SLM,” Krafton said.
These developments come as little surprise given Krafton established a Deep Learning Division of its own in 2022, and has secured various core AI technologies in recent years. It’s going all-in on AI when it comes to video game development amid the various ethical and environmental concerns around the tech and its well-documented impact on jobs.
But it’s far from alone in this. Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft have all invested heavily in generative AI, with the latter showing off its “Neo NPCs,” a prototype for player-facing generative AI that essentially makes it so you can talk to NPCs in a video game, last year.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
