Microsoft Xbox and Inworld AI join forces to revolutionize game development with generative AI tools
Artificial Intelligence
3-minute read
If all the characters in games came to life, would the boundaries between NPCs and players become blurred? It seems that this would subvert the paradigm of game design. Inworld AI, a company dedicated to injecting intelligence into virtual world NPCs and turning imagination into reality, now Microsoft has announced its collaboration with Inworld’s character engine for AI NPCs to design next-gen AI tools for game developers and help them unleash their creativity.
As soon as the news of the collaboration was announced, it caused a huge stir on X (formerly Twitter). Many gamers have negative opinions about the combination of AI and games, especially after the Screen Actors Guild strike in Hollywood. They voted against the unauthorized use of their voices, and the suspicion of Xbox using AI to replace human voice actors could understandably cause backlash.
However, for Microsoft, the collaboration with Inworld makes perfect sense considering Inworld's expertise in using generated AI models for character development, along with Microsoft's own Azure cloud, investments in OpenAI, and the platform advantage of Xbox (especially with the recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard).
Microsoft emphasizes that the common goal of both parties is to provide game developers with a user-friendly and reliable set of AI tools, including the "AI design copilot" system, which can assist developers in generating creative ideas, such as transforming prompts into detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests and more. In addition, there is also Inworld's strong suit, the "AI character runtime engine," which can be integrated into the game client, allowing players to experience dynamically generated stories, quests, and dialogues, creating brand new narrative content. It can be said that the potential of AI is directly integrated into the game itself.
As for whether such AI tools will affect the livelihoods of voice actors and game developers in the future, or if players will find games with AI gameplay to be monotonous and poorly designed, this is indeed an on-going issue that will need to be addressed with more evaluation.
But honestly, the impact of AI on writers, artists, music creators, and programmers is nothing new. Microsoft's stance on AI has always been consistent - AI will not replace humans, but rather serve as a "copilot" and a helpful assistant to help enhance humans. Moreover, Microsoft specifically emphasizes that they are only providing tools, and whether or not they are used is the game developers' choice.
How much impact AI will have on the gaming industry remains to be seen. What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
