How Artificial Intelligence is Leading to Smarter Games



Artificial intelligence is a hot topic whether you're discussing tech stocks, action movies, or Elon Musk's latest musings on Twitter. One particular application I feel we will see actualized prior to the latter's fear of Skynet is the use of artificial intelligence to create living digital worlds in video games. As the "new mainstream" of entertainment mediums and the most popular across all demographics, adoption of AI here will be key in seeing it grow for all applications.

Instead of developing a means to beat real players, AI in video games is utilized to enhance the human players’ experience. More common than not, AI in video games is controlling non-player characters (NPCs). Develops are always looking for new ways to make them seem more intelligent or legitimate. Up to this point they have employed a form of pseudo AI called the Finite State Machine (FSM) algorithm, which has been around since the 1990s. In a FSM, a dev will account for all possible situations that an AI could encounter, and then configures a set, specific reaction for each situation. For example, in a first-person shooter, if a human player engages with an NPC in combat, the NPC will return fire (it's pre-programmed response.

With actual AI and machine learning becoming a reality, designers can have NPC's decisions be determined by what they have learned about the specific traits and behaviors of a specific player rather than some generalized scenario. The possibilities are endless from a gameplay standpoint and extremely exciting for those of us who enjoy the science behind these things

Thanks for check out my first post! Feel free to leave feedback or discussion below. 

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