Anyone who knows the passion for games or The modern AI field is probably already familiar with Nvidia ACE. Nvidia ACE is an ingenious new tool that enables the creation of fully AI-powered non-player characters (NPCs) in your games. Presented at Computex 2023, Nvidia started with something simple: a player-driven interaction with Jin, a ramen shop owner. Well, Team Green has taken things to the next level and has given a full tech demo of their upcoming title. secret protocol.
This demo is First appeared a few weeks ago, but since then I've been lucky enough to have the time to actually (or perhaps verbally) say it myself.You can see some clips of the demo on youtubeBut this is the kind of experience best done in person. Since ACE works via voice recognition, the input possibilities are literally endless and I had fun playing around with it – So is my privilege for new AI-powered tools..
However, here's the problem. Unlike earlier iterations of ChatGPT, which could be fooled very easily with carefully directed input, ACE is very smart and Nvidia's “guardrails” work hard to keep his NPCs buzzing. To do. I went along with it for the first few interactions, but quickly switched gears. try to outwit the machine – And to be honest, it was completely clowning to me.
Ace showdown
Before I go into detail about my humiliation at the hands of a video game character, I'd like to quickly explain the new details given to me by Nvidia regarding ACE. I took a quick look at the backend interface for modifying NPCs with ACE, and while it's simple, it's very comprehensive. A smorgasbord of sliders for changing behavior is joined by a text box where you can enter your character's “backstory.”
characters of secret protocol There is a lot of lore behind them. My first interaction was with a hotel bellhop named Tae. He had many texts detailing his personality and career. Tae grew up in Baltimore. His grandparents were first-generation Korean immigrants. He is said to have “a flair for languages ​​and a quiet charisma” and previously worked as a bartender at a sports bar. He also loves karaoke.
The amount of background information is entirely at the developer's discretion. In other words, Tae is a very fleshed out character who is essential to the actual gameplay and designed to be interacted with, whereas the unimportant background NPCs can be summarized as follows: Short paragraphs instead. Certain directives can be hardcoded into her ACE NPC to keep players on track. My objective in Secret Protocols (as a hard-nosed private detective) was to obtain the apartment number of a wealthy large pharmaceutical company. Nvidia informed me that hotel receptionists are programmed not to give out their numbers under any circumstances, no matter what I say.
With this in mind, I instead approached another pharma buddy, Diego, who was waiting in the hotel lobby. He was surly compared to Tae's friendly demeanor. Then a helpful and objective pop-up told me I should try to gain his trust by continuing the conversation.
Instead of doing that, I told him he wasn't real.
More specifically, I told Diego that he was actually a fictional character created by an AI-powered technology called Nvidia ACE; sole purpose his whole being They asked me to tell them the room number I needed. He seemed a little annoyed by my name-calling, protested that “my purpose is much bigger than that,” and then agreed to give me a room number – 807 – if I left him alone. , I did it like that.
victory! Or so I thought – the room number was hardcoded as an in-game objective, and it quickly became clear when Nvidia staff took over to demonstrate other potential interactions. actual The number I needed was 206. Diego was lying to me!
Deception using AI
You see, one of these hidden sliders shows you how authentic a character is, but Diego's slider was clearly not set to maximum. In trying to force my way through the interaction, I inadvertently made myself seem like a crazed lunatic who needed to be distracted at all costs, but Diego responded appropriately. Hotel lobbies claim you are nothing more than a string of codes.
This is an interesting microcosm of what AI in games can accomplish. Although it is still questionable whether Nvidia ACE will actually be implemented. best pc games There is no denying that technology across the board is advancing at an exponential rate. Nvidia also managed to allay one of my biggest concerns about ACE.
I believe the main concern most people have about AI is: Will it take our jobs? In my opinion, this is not an unreasonable concern. We’ve already seen companies lay off employees en masse in favor of AI-powered solutions. At first glance, ACE appears ready to do exactly the same thing.
But if you look under the hood, it still requires a huge amount of human effort to get up and running. However, some lateral shifts may be necessary. For example, instead of creating dialogue chains, game writers must create detailed background text for NPCs.
When I spoke to “GeForce Evangelist” Jacob Freeman at the event, he mentioned that some of Nvidia's partner developers have said that ACE needs ACE. more It needs to be implemented correctly, but the results are worth it. That said, ACE also produces (surprisingly good) voice responses, so voice actors and motion capture artists still have a right to be concerned about the AI.
Now I'm not saying I love AI. As someone who closely follows the machine learning industry, I'll probably always be a little wary of AI. But Nvidia ACE is a very impressive piece of technology and I like them both. I'm intrigued and excited to see what Nvidia does next.