Google is developing a DeepMind-based AI that could be the ultimate virtual collaboration partner. This is not an opponent or a superbot to win against, but a generic, commandable gameplay AI agent.
Google has published a research paper (from @)rowanchun) It's about something called Scalable Instructable Multiworld Agent (SIMA). The general idea is that Google's SIMA is a learning AI that can follow verbal instructions and understand the virtual world in which it exists. Google's SIMA promises more natural AI, rather than acting as the hard-coded AI enemies and bots we've become accustomed to for decades. And a human-like game companion.
Google partnered with eight game studios to test the SIMA model on games such as Valheim, Goat Simulator 3, and No Man's Sky. These are the open world games chosen for SIMA to learn common gaming skills. The current version of SIMA can perform approximately 600 basic skills, such as navigation, manipulating objects, and using menus.
As a No Man's Sky player, I'm very interested in that possibility. Anyone who has played the game knows that collecting and building resources is a tedious process. Telling the AI ​​player to go find oxygen or build a base can go a long way in reducing that tedious aspect. I prefer things like exploration and dogfights to crafting Y and building Z to traversing the landscape to find X. SIMA really helps with that.
Early results look promising. According to Google, trained SIMA agents performed nearly as well as specially trained agents in unseen games. Whether such an agent is useful to actual gamers is what matters. If a typical game playthrough lasts tens to hundreds of hours, the AI ​​companion needs to work from the opening scene, otherwise the player won't care.
This is an impressive and very interesting feat, but I remain skeptical. Although large-scale language AI models are very good at doing things based on their knowledge, they are still limited in their ability to react, adapt, and act appropriately in real-time like humans. How good are you at hitting headshots on the other side of the map?
AI in video games is not a new concept. Boss battles, multiplayer bots, antagonists, NPCs, etc. in single-player games date back decades, but they're hard-coded into each game. When properly implemented, AI like SIMA can have a dramatic impact on general gameplay. It also does not require access to source code or an API to function. Instead, it relies on only two inputs: an image on the screen and instructions provided by the user.
Google emphasizes that the research is still in its early stages. Learning from more games is expected to make it more versatile and adaptable. Will your next co-op companion be an AI? And what will actually be useful about it? We look forward to seeing how this technology develops and what impact it will have on the future of multiplayer gaming.