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The Star
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
The unnerving future of AI-fuelled video games
SAN FRANCISCO: It sounds like a thought experiment conjured by René Descartes for the 21st century. The citizens of a simulated city inside a video game based on The Matrix franchise were being awakened to a grim reality. Everything was fake, a player told them through a microphone, and they were simply lines of code meant to embellish a virtual world. Empowered by generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, the characters responded in panicked disbelief. 'What does that mean,' said one woman in a gray sweater. 'Am I real or not?' The unnerving demo, released two years ago by an Australian tech company named Replica Studios, showed both the potential power and the consequences of enhancing gameplay with artificial intelligence. The risk goes far beyond unsettling scenes inside a virtual world. As video game studios become more comfortable with outsourcing the jobs of voice actors, writers and others to artificial intelligence, what will become of the industry? At the pace the technology is improving, large tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon are counting on their AI programs to revolutionise how games are made within the next few years. 'Everybody is trying to race toward AGI,' said tech founder Kylan Gibbs, using an acronym for artificial generalised intelligence, which describes the turning point at which computers have the same cognitive abilities as humans. 'There's this belief that once you do, you'll basically monopolise all other industries.' In the earliest months after the rollout of ChatGPT in 2022, the conversation about artificial intelligence's role in gaming was largely about how it could help studios quickly generate concept art or write basic dialogue. Its applications have accelerated quickly. This spring at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, thousands of eager professionals looking for employment opportunities were greeted with an eerie glimpse into the future of video games. Engineers from Google DeepMind, an artificial intelligence laboratory, lectured on a new program that might eventually replace human play testers with 'autonomous agents' that can run through early builds of a game and discover glitches. Microsoft developers hosted a demonstration of adaptive gameplay with an example of how artificial intelligence could study a short video and immediately generate level design and animations that would otherwise have taken hundreds of hours to produce. And executives behind the online gaming platform Roblox introduced Cube 3D, a generative AI model that could produce functional objects and environments from text descriptions in a matter of seconds. These were not the solutions that developers were hoping to see after several years of extensive layoffs; another round of cuts in Microsoft's gaming division this month was a signal to some analysts that the company was shifting resources to artificial intelligence. Studios have suffered as expectations for hyperrealistic graphics turned even their bestselling games into financial losses. And some observers are worried that investing in AI programs with hopes of cutting overhead costs might actually be an expensive distraction from the industry's efficiency problems. Most experts acknowledge that a takeover by artificial intelligence is coming for the video game industry within the next five years, and executives have already started preparing to restructure their companies in anticipation. After all, it was one of the first sectors to deploy AI programming in the 1980s, with the four ghosts who chase Pac-Man, each responding differently to the player's real-time movements. Sony did not respond to questions about the AI technology it is using for game development. Yafine Lee, a spokesperson for Microsoft, said, 'Game creators will always be the center of our overall AI efforts, and we empower our teams to decide on the use of generative AI that best supports their unique goals and vision.' A spokesperson for Nintendo said the company did not have further comment beyond what one of its leaders, Shigeru Miyamoto, told The New York Times last year: 'There is a lot of talk about AI, for example. When that happens, everyone starts to go in the same direction, but that is where Nintendo would rather go in a different direction.' Over the past year, generative AI has shifted from a concept into a common tool within the industry, according to a survey released by organisers of the Game Developers Conference. A majority of respondents said their companies were using artificial intelligence, while an increasing number of developers expressed concern that it was contributing to job instability and layoffs. Not all responses were negative. Some developers praised the ability to use AI programs to complete repetitive tasks like placing barrels throughout a virtual village. Despite the impressive tech demos at the conference in late March, many developers admitted that their programs were still several years away from widespread use. 'There is a very big gap between prototypes and production,' said Gibbs, who runs Inworld AI, a tech company that builds artificial intelligence programs for consumer applications in sectors such as gaming, health and learning. He appeared on a conference panel for Microsoft, where the company showed off its adaptive gameplay model. Gibbs said large studios could face costs in the millions of dollars to upgrade their technology. Google, Microsoft and Amazon each hope to become the new backbone of the gaming sector by offering AI tools that would require studios to join their servers under expensive contracts. Artificial intelligence technology has developed so fast that it has surpassed Replica Studios, the team behind the tech demo based on the 'Matrix' franchise. Replica went out of business this year because of the pace of competition from larger companies like OpenAI. Replica's chief technology officer, Eoin McCarthy, said that at the height of the demo's popularity, users were generating more than 100,000 lines of dialogue from nonplayer characters, or NPCs, which cost the startup about $1,000 per day to maintain. The cost has fallen in recent years as the AI programs have improved, but he said that most developers were unaccustomed to these unbounded costs. There were also fears about how expensive it would be if NPCs started talking to one another. When Replica announced it was ending the demo, McCarthy said, some players grew concerned about the fate of the NPCs. ''Were they going to continue to live or would they die?'' McCarthy recalled players asking. He would reply: 'It is a technology demo. These people aren't real.' Large companies are often forgoing those moral questions in their presentations to studio executives. Nvidia has collaborated with a startup named Convai to imbue NPCs in a cyberpunk ramen shop with real-time conversations. The Verge posted video showing that Sony was using OpenAI's speech recognition system and other technologies to create a version of Aloy, the protagonist of Horizon Forbidden West, that could answer player questions. Some technologists have gone even further, experimenting with AI programs that put faithful simulations of real people into games. In late 2023, researchers from Google and Stanford University partnered on the creation of generative agents, which they described as proxies of human behavior. 'Generative agents wake up, cook breakfast, and head to work; artists paint, while authors write; they form opinions, notice each other, and initiate conversations; they remember and reflect on days past as they plan the next day,' their report stated. In a virtual world inspired by The Sims, these agents developed relationships with each other, even planning a Valentine's Day celebration at a cafe. Some ethics experts have applauded the development of technology that might take some burden off acquiring human test subjects. But others have questioned the point of a technology that can only replicate a person's choices. 'Humans should be at the center of what we do,' said Celia Hodent, a specialist in user experience and cognitive science who has been developing a code of ethics in the gaming industry. 'Instead of thinking of AI as a solution for everything, having better processes might be a better starting point.' Many of the current programs that could automate game development are still prohibitively expensive to run and full of glitches. Entrepreneurs are preaching patience, saying that usable models will probably take another five years in order to improve quality and bring costs down. Gibbs said the adaptive gameplay model shown during Microsoft's conference session would probably costs hundreds or thousands of dollars an hour to run commercially. A similar program called Oasis has its own problems, he said. Because it generates content on a frame-by-frame basis, it forgets visual information not immediately present on-screen, leaving players in a constantly shifting environment. While the technology shows promise, Gibbs said, it is still an answer in search of a problem. 'How do we push the research community in a more useful direction?' he asked. 'It's a cheaper way to make games, but it is going to cost you 5,000 times more to run a game, so is it actually cheaper?' Beyond the dollar signs, ethics experts remain focused on questions of how prepared the industry is for sentient characters and levels that design themselves. Cansu Canca, the director of responsible AI practice at Northeastern University in Boston, said there would be a risk to individual agency and privacy by normalizing the technology. 'My biggest concern is not that the AI gains consciousness,' she said, 'but what it means for us to exist in a virtual environment where encounters cannot always be controlled or predicted.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Time of India
28-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
The unnerving future of AI-fueled video games
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills It sounds like a thought experiment conjured by René Descartes for the 21st citizens of a simulated city inside a video game based on "The Matrix" franchise were being awakened to a grim reality. Everything was fake, a player told them through a microphone, and they were simply lines of code meant to embellish a virtual world. Empowered by generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, the characters responded in panicked disbelief."What does that mean," said one woman in a grey sweater. "Am I real or not?"The unnerving demo, released two years ago by an Australian tech company named Replica Studios, showed both the potential power and the consequences of enhancing gameplay with artificial intelligence. The risk goes far beyond unsettling scenes inside a virtual world. As video game studios become more comfortable with outsourcing the jobs of voice actors, writers and others to artificial intelligence, what will become of the industry?At the pace the technology is improving, large tech companies such as Google Microsoft and Amazon are counting on their AI programs to revolutionise how games are made within the next few years."Everybody is trying to race toward AGI," said tech founder Kylan Gibbs, using an acronym for artificial generalised intelligence, which describes the turning point at which computers have the same cognitive abilities as humans. "There's this belief that once you do, you'll basically monopolise all other industries."In the earliest months after the rollout of ChatGPT in 2022, the conversation about artificial intelligence's role in gaming was largely about how it could help studios quickly generate concept art or write basic applications have accelerated quickly. This spring at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, thousands of eager professionals looking for employment opportunities were greeted with an eerie glimpse into the future of video from Google DeepMind, an artificial intelligence laboratory, lectured on a new program that might eventually replace human play testers with "autonomous agents" that can run through early builds of a game and discover developers hosted a demonstration of adaptive gameplay with an example of how artificial intelligence could study a short video and immediately generate level design and animations that would otherwise have taken hundreds of hours to executives behind the online gaming platform Roblox introduced Cube 3D, a generative AI model that could produce functional objects and environments from text descriptions in a matter of were not the solutions that developers were hoping to see after several years of extensive layoffs; another round of cuts in Microsoft's gaming division this month was a signal to some analysts that the company was shifting resources to artificial have suffered as expectations for hyperrealistic graphics turned even their bestselling games into financial losses. And some observers are worried that investing in AI programs with hopes of cutting overhead costs might actually be an expensive distraction from the industry's efficiency experts acknowledge that a takeover by artificial intelligence is coming for the video game industry within the next five years, and executives have already started preparing to restructure their companies in anticipation. After all, it was one of the first sectors to deploy AI programming in the 1980s, with the four ghosts who chase Pac-Man, each responding differently to the player's real-time movements. Sony did not respond to questions about the AI technology it is using for game Lee, a spokesperson for Microsoft, said, "Game creators will always be the centre of our overall AI efforts, and we empower our teams to decide on the use of generative AI that best supports their unique goals and vision."A spokesperson for Nintendo said the company did not have further comment beyond what one of its leaders, Shigeru Miyamoto, told The New York Times last year: "There is a lot of talk about AI, for example. When that happens, everyone starts to go in the same direction, but that is where Nintendo would rather go in a different direction."Over the past year, generative AI has shifted from a concept into a common tool within the industry, according to a survey released by organisers of the Game Developers Conference. A majority of respondents said their companies were using artificial intelligence, while an increasing number of developers expressed concern that it was contributing to job instability and all responses were negative. Some developers praised the ability to use AI programs to complete repetitive tasks like placing barrels throughout a virtual the impressive tech demos at the conference in late March, many developers admitted that their programs were still several years away from widespread use."There is a very big gap between prototypes and production," said Gibbs, who runs Inworld AI, a tech company that builds artificial intelligence programs for consumer applications in sectors such as gaming, health and learning. He appeared on a conference panel for Microsoft, where the company showed off its adaptive gameplay said large studios could face costs in the millions of dollars to upgrade their technology. Google, Microsoft and Amazon each hope to become the new backbone of the gaming sector by offering AI tools that would require studios to join their servers under expensive intelligence technology has developed so fast that it has surpassed Replica Studios, the team behind the tech demo based on the "Matrix" franchise. Replica went out of business this year because of the pace of competition from larger companies like chief technology officer, Eoin McCarthy, said that at the height of the demo's popularity, users were generating more than 100,000 lines of dialogue from nonplayer characters, or NPCs , which cost the startup about $1,000 per day to cost has fallen in recent years as the AI programs have improved, but he said that most developers were unaccustomed to these unbounded costs. There were also fears about how expensive it would be if NPCs started talking to one Replica announced it was ending the demo, McCarthy said, some players grew concerned about the fate of the NPCs. "'Were they going to continue to live or would they die?'" McCarthy recalled players asking. He would reply: "It is a technology demo. These people aren't real.
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Can Roblox's Developer Ecosystem Fuel Its Next Growth Phase?
Roblox Corporation RBLX is doubling down on its developer ecosystem as a strategic growth engine and the latest results indicate this approach is gaining traction. In first-quarter 2025, creator payouts rose 39% year over year to $281 million, with more than 100 developers earning $1 million or more in the past 12 months. This strong creator monetization points to a broadening and maturing development community that could underpin Roblox's next growth wave.A big contributor to this momentum is the platform's investment in tools and incentives that make game creation easier, more profitable and globally scalable. Roblox's pricing optimization, regional monetization strategies and transparent algorithmic discovery have not only enhanced earnings potential but also diversified the types of successful content. 24% of the top 100 experiences by spending in March were built within the past year, an encouraging sign of creative churn and content is also playing a pivotal role. With native tools like Cube 3D and generative 4D asset creation, Roblox is enabling developers to produce interactive, code-embedded experiences at scale. As a result, the top 100 creators averaged $6.7 million in earnings over the past year, up 35% year over Roblox eyes a 10% market share in global gaming, its strategy hinges on scaling the ecosystem, not just through big studios but by nurturing a long tail of creators across genres. If this trajectory continues, the developer community may well be Roblox's most valuable asset in capturing the next stage of digital entertainment. RBLX's Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates RBLX's shares have gained 77.8% in the past three months compared with the industry's increase of 26.5%. In the same time frame, shares of other industry players, such as Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. TTWO and Electronic Arts Inc. EA, have gained 0.1% and 4%, respectively. Price Performance Image Source: Zacks Investment Research With the recent gain, RBLX is priced at a premium relative to its industry. Its forward 12-month price-to-sales ratio of 13.22 is well below the industry average. Meanwhile, Take-Two Interactive and Electronic Arts' forward 12-month price-to-sales ratios are 5.62 and 4.8, respectively. P/S (F12M) Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 loss per share has widened to $1.42 in the past 30 days. In 2024, the company reported adjusted loss per share of $1.44. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Meanwhile, Take-Two Interactive and Electronic Arts' earnings in fiscal 2026 are likely to witness growth of 31.7% and 20.5%, currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Roblox Corporation (RBLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Al Bawaba
18-03-2025
- Business
- Al Bawaba
Roblox launches 3D AI model on its online gaming platform
Published March 18th, 2025 - 05:26 GMT ALBAWABA – Roblox, the online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation that allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users, announced the launch of its first 3D artificial intelligence (AI) model: Cube 3D. Also Read Roblox made $740.8m record payout to Game Makers Roblox introduces Cube 3D Roblox has launched Cube 3D, the first version of its artificial intelligence (AI) model designed for creating 3D renderings of objects on its online gaming platform. According to the company, users and video game developers will be able to access the new model this week, and an open-source version of Cube 3D will also be released. Notably, the Cube 3D AI model will allow Roblox users and video game developers to create three-dimensional (3D) shapes of various objects with just one click. The company also announced that it will release an open-source version of the new model. Developers will be able to use, customize, create plugins, and integrate their own datasets. The company further stated that the first tool included in Cube 3D AI model is: mesh. It will allow users to create 3D models by entering texts only and include it in Roblox world. 'The generated object is fully compatible with game engines today and can be extended to make objects functional,' Roblox and video game developers can easily use simple prompts like '/generate a motorcycle' or '/generate an orange safety cone,' and they will receive a 3D model in seconds. This new creative tool will be available to everyone, as the company plans to release the open-source version soon. While mesh is the only tool available for now, the company plans to release more tools in the coming months. Also Read New 3D currency released in Japan after 20 years © 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba (
