The promise (and pitfalls) of NPCs powered by AI in video games

A hot potato: Large language models and generative AI are topics that most video game developers would rather avoid. As tempting as using these tools is to replace human labor, the negative blowback is far too intense for most companies to handle, and that’s not even considering that AI technology is not quite at the point where it can consistently produce quality content without human assistance.

However, such barriers don’t exist for regular folks. People are already experimenting with AI technology in existing games. Modding communities have begun using platforms such as ChatGPT to give voice to NPCs and followers in games like Skyrim and Stardew Valley.

A Starview Valley modder who goes by DualityOfSoul createda mod that uses OpenAI’s ChatGPT API to expand many of the game’s NPC conversational trees. Usually, players can only speak to NPCs a …