Sony has created an AI system that generates fantasy NPC characters using dialogue

Sony researchers have developed an AI system that can convert dialogue excerpts into fantasy “personas” for potential use as non-player characters in video games and other media. AI personas are personalities or characters adopted by AI models, often created through a process of training a natural language model and refining it with human feedback and parameter adjustments. Sony’s latest experiments aim to automate this process by training an AI model to extract key details from dialogue.

The researchers’ ultimate goal is to make these personas less monotonous and more consistent. Instead of creating a persona from scratch, they developed a method called “persona extraction” that builds a persona based on existing information. For instance, a pirate persona could be created from dialogue discussing aspects of pirate life. The AI was trained to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, leading to the creation of complete personas.

While the experiment didn’t specifically focus on creating AI agents in video games, the personas seem highly adaptable. They can generate dialogue, which when combined with other systems, could enable non-player characters to converse in real-time, enhancing character immersion.

However, the researchers also highlighted ethical concerns, particularly the potential for the system to impersonate real people. The system could theoretically be used to extract personas from real individuals for advertising purposes, with the more accurate the persona, the more targeted the advertising could be.