Skyrim has shown itself to be fertile ground for experimentation once again, with modders utilising the AI tool ChatGPT (that latest of technical bugaboos) to generate endless reams of dialogue and audio in a spooky peek at our impending AI-ruled future.
As reported by PC Gamer, modder Art From The Machine has, through dark science and unbridled ingenuity, managed to hacksaw AI vocalisers xVASynth (text-to-speech) and Whisper (speech-to-text) into the game. This allows NPCs to communicate after a fashion but demonstrates some pretty wild possibilities. Art From The Machine is currently working on implementing a basic memory system for NPCs, allowing them to reference earlier interactions with the player.
Ulfberth War-Bear (the NPC in question) is able to answer when local shops will close using the in-game clock. Hhe is even able to describe a weapon, its current modifications, and its use: "It seems to be a well-crafted iron sword with a soul gem embedded in the hilt. The enchantment on it allows the wielder to capture the souls of their enemies."
What's your gut reaction to this glimpse of the kind of AI-dominated future prophets and visionaries have been warning us about for decades? We recommend setting parameters to "pithy" and "erudite" before generating a response in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com, via pcgamer.com]
Comments 22
Cool, now if they can use ChatGPT to give the enemies in Redfall a brain, that'll be a step in the proper direction.
Nope. I won't be participating with anything ChatGPT.
This is really interesting. I’d like to see where devs can take this tech
The writer’s guild is currently on strike. May not be the best time to promote non curated content.
I think this has the potential to be really immersive if done right.
This is absolutely atrocious though. The fake actor is talking with zero emotion for starters. Plus, yes, the fact you’re promoting this dreck while creative writers are on strike is basically the opposite of solidarity, especially considering that this type of journalism will be the first to go if these idiots get their way.
Very cool. Interesting how we kinda leapfrogged the npcs-using-your-character's-name step along the way to full conversational AI like this.
I barely want to listen to a scripted NPC, so I sure as hell won’t listen to a ‘next word predictor’ NPC spouting bland nothings
There's a massive amount of potential here. We're at the very beginning of what can be done. With time we'll be able to give NPCs distinct voices, and deepen their memories and responsiveness to real situations.
Researchers have already created a game where NPCs have social lives, they talk to each other, gossip, spread rumours, hold parties, take actions and remember grudges.
It's important to remember 1) there's always going to be distinction between written content and generated content, something we're already familiar with in games. Most games these days are a mix of handcrafted and generated levels, and this just deepens that toolset
And 2) there's already a distinction between carefully crafted human written dialogue and filler human written dialogue. When you have to write 1,000 NPC barks you don't sit and carefully craft each sentence. It's pleasing background noise, not a deep thoughtful experience.
There's no reason to be all binary on this. Of course if it's just ai created stuff, it'll suck, but that's not the future. Devs will continue to tell the stories they want to tell, while this tech can fill the gaps to sustain the illusion between scripted areas. We all know immersion breaking elements of games and those will always exist once a script eventually ends.
This can assist, but not replace, so no need to get childishly hostile.
Also, people are striking due to the choices of others in positions of power and not ai tech directly.
Removed - inappropriate
Removed - inappropriate
@This_Guy Strikes have a habit of furthering automation and this is no different.
Besides, we are all going to lose our jobs to AI eventually. I give it 20 years maximum.
I’ve had to work with it a lot recently, and as it’s a prediction machine it tends to “fill in the blanks” with inaccurate information (which sone humans would call a fabrication of the truth).
All I’m saying is, don’t rely on the shop closing times it gives you..
The potential for incredibly realistic interactions and events creation is incredible, but we are not quite there yet.
4:17 - The NPCs got quite existential there, didn't they...
@nessisonett Just copied the article to ChatGPT and asked it to write a news article for Push Square about it.
"Title: "Modder wires ChatGPT into Skyrim VR to create dynamic NPC conversations"
Skyrim VR modder Art From The Machine has wired AI language model ChatGPT into the game's NPCs, enabling them to generate dynamically generated responses to player questions and remember past conversations. The mod uses xVASynth for text-to-speech and Whisper for speech-to-text, allowing players to speak into their microphone and have their words understood by the NPCs. Although the early results of the mod are somewhat clunky, they suggest an exciting potential for AI-enhanced NPCs that could react dynamically to player actions and comments. The mod is not yet available to try, but the concept is an intriguing one for fans of RPGs.
What do you think about the idea of NPCs remembering past conversations and dynamically generating new dialogue? Do you think it has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with characters in video games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below."
@Kidfried Pretty sure that’s already how sites like TheGamer and so on work, they pay freelancers pennies for barebones content making it incredibly easy to churn out AI articles.
Did no one watch Terminator 2? This AI thing ends one way
Chatgpt such a buzz word. We are 3 to 4 years away from true A.I. it's progressing so fast ,we could have never ending games depending on your choices A.I can build and render scenes I'm thinking mass effect LoL . Or mod GTA 6 to be as mad as the older ones,it's gonna be very interesting once they build A.I into game engines so looking forward to this , I want to have Arnold Schwarzenegger in a star trek movie as worf lol with all this you can do that. Stuff like this would be great for gaming when done right 👍
@Mad001 we already use AI to take out of hour text messages. It's rudimentary within a few boundaries - so it can't answer random questions such as is a 3 series or C-Class better. But it can give some answers on the vehicles themselves, such as - does x car have sat nav.
The thing with Ai, it's never late for work. We should all be worried. Even at this early stage, that's someone in text chat who no longer has a job.
@themcnoisy it's all good become the robot repair man LoL. People who lose work due to AI should still get paid regardless. But greed of these companies won't let that happen.
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