The CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang al Computex 2023 Taipei gave a preview of what the future of the world of video games could become: using AI to speak directly with the characters. No more multiple choice options to select – just chat with NPCs. And Nvidia showed it to us with a very high resolution graphical demonstration of a ramen shop in stile cyberpunk where it is possible interact with the owner with voice.
Nvidia uses AI to make us talk to video game characters
A new way to play: instead of select dialog optionsjust press a button on your controller, say something in your own voice, and receive an answer from a character in the game. Nvidia calls it a “peek into the future of gaming”: you can see it in this video.
The example dialogue goes something like this:
- Player: Hey Jin, how are you?
- Jin: Unfortunately not so well.
- G: How come?
- J: I’m worried about the crime around here. It’s gotten worse lately. My ramen shop got caught in the crossfire.
- G: Can I help?
- J: If you want to do something about it, I’ve heard that the powerful crime lord Kumon Aoki is causing all kinds of havoc in the city. He could be the root of this violence.
- G: I’ll talk to him, where can I find him?
- J: I hear he hangs out in underground fight clubs on the east side of town. Try them.
- G: All right, I’m going.
- J: Be careful, Kai.
After just one conversation it is difficult to understand the effectiveness ofNPC dialogue tree managed by artificial intelligence. But the interesting part is that generative AI is reacting to natural language. It hears what the user is saying and understands the content of the sentences, extracting the right input to provide an answer. Like the AI voice assistants we use at home, but with the added personality of the game character. Potentially, this could make the gaming experience much more natural.
The future of gaming?
Nvidia e Convai they collaborated to make the demo of Tapei, but the video also shows the tools they used to make it. Especially a suite called Nvidia ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) for games that can work both locally and in the cloud. The ACE suite includes the tools NeMo of the company for the use of large language models (LLM) as well as Riva speech-to-text e text-to-speech.
The demo is based on Unreal Engine 5 and displays impressive resolution, with really good ray-tracing. So much so that the chatbot almost isn’t the most impressive part of the video. Especially since we’ve seen impressive chatbots in other contexts: the added value is combining Nvidia image quality with AI to talk to video game characters.
However, as The Verge’s Sean Hollister explains after speaking with Nvidia’s Jason Paul, Nvidia hasn’t yet tested the feature extensively in a video game yet. However, games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chernobyl e Fort Solis they will use the tool that Nvidia calls “Omniverse Audio2Face“, which tries to synchronize a 3D character’s facial animation with their voice actor’s speech. A first step towards a more natural interaction in the world of gaming.
The other AI innovations presented by Nvidia
In addition to talking to game characters, it seems that Nvidia wants to take full advantage of the AI. For example, with the new type of ethernet switch for artificial intelligence presented by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during the Computex conference keynote address. Call yourself Spectrum-X, are “the world’s first high-performance ethernet for artificial intelligence“, according to Nvidia. One of the key features of this technology is that it “doesn’t drop packets,” said Gilad Shainer, senior vice president of networking.
The first version of Spectrum-X is Spectrum-4, which Nvidia described as “the world’s first 51 Tb/sec Ethernet switch designed specifically for AI networks.” The switch works in conjunction with the Nvidia BlueField DPU (Data Processing Unit).. And can handle 128 400 gigabit Ethernet ports or 64 800 gigabit ports.
The news is very important for Nvidia because, at the moment, the main switch supplier is Broadcom. But with new hardware for connections, coupled with long experience with graphics cards and recent work with AI, Nvidia can offer combined services to partner companies. Not only those who produce video games, but also all companies that take advantage of AI-based cloud services.
All new that shows how Nvidia is a big believer in artificial intelligence and using supercomputers to enable it. Find more information on Nvidia’s Computex site.