Unity aims to open up the generative AI market for video game developers

Anna Tong

Unity Software Inc, maker of the video game development environment of the same name, is looking to open up the software market for generative artificial intelligence (AI), CEO John Riccitello told Reuters.

Game developers regularly spend significant resources creating assets such as characters and sound effects. In the future, developers will be able to visit the Unity marketplace, select an AI product such as an illustration generator, and use it to create content instantly, Riccitello said.

Generative AI has become a hot topic since the November launch of OpenAI ChatGPT, a chatbot that provides unusually human responses to user questions and can even generate original computer code on demand. Since then, major software companies have announced a series of generative AI projects to capitalize on what many see as game-changing technology.

Generative AI could allow video games to offer personalized scenarios based on player input without specifying a time frame for when the market will open, Riccitello said.

“In every video game in history, someone wrote the dialogue,” Riccitello said in an interview on Tuesday. “But now what you can do with (generative AI) is give those characters motivation, personality and purpose, and then they can spawn dialogue that doesn’t require a writer.”

On Wednesday, Unity launched a program to give developers early access to the San Francisco-based company’s future artificial intelligence offerings.

Generative AI software that has been available for some time includes DALL-E and Stable Diffusion image creators, and newer products include software that creates video and video game content based on text prompts.

A teaser video from Unity shows that such software could allow developers to type in text such as “add two seconds of thunder” or “make them fly alien mushrooms” and automatically generate video game assets or code instead of having to create a design from scratch. . .

(Reporting by Anna Tong; editing by Christopher Cushing)