Popular game engine developer Unity has announced the launch of Unity AI, a new ecosystem of AI-powered game development tools.
The company claims that its new tool will make it possible for millions of creators around the world to build real-time 3D content and experiences for users worldwide.
Unity also released a teaser video that showcases how Unity AI will gather important assets based on prompts entered by developers.
Speaking with Reuters, Unity CEO John Riccitiello said the company is looking to open a marketplace for generative AI software.
The CEO went on to add that game developers spend significant resources to create assets like characters and sound effects but with Unity’s marketplace, developers can simply select an AI product such as an artwork generator and use it to create content instantly.
Artificial intelligence as a tool
Ever since OpenAI launched its ChatGPT language model, AI technology has become a booming topic as companies rush to join the trend and not get left behind.
Generative AI (as we’ve learned from ChatGPT), gives unusually human-like responses to user questions and the newest GPT-4 can create games, generate computer codes and even mimic a user’s writing style among other features.
And as AI gradually makes its way towards global adoption, generative AI could allow video games to provide personalised scenarios based on a player’s input, according to Riccitiello.
“In every video game in history, the dialogue was written by somebody,” Riccitiello said. “But now what you can do with (generative AI) is give these characters motivation, personality, and objectives and then they can spawn dialogue that doesn’t require a writer.”
From the teaser video released by Unity, we see how such software could allow developers to type text like ‘Add two seconds of thunder’ or ‘Give me a cyberpunk look’ and have the video game’s assets or code auto-generated, rather than needing to design from scratch. Note that the results were not shown in the trailer.
The beta sign-up for Unity AI and the Unity AI Insider program was launched on March 22nd and the sign-up page also offers a Unity AI Beta Program, which suggests that developers who sign up could get early access to test these tools when they become available.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
