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[IbizaPocholo]

Take-Two CEO Reveals How AI Can Make GTA 6 Even Better

GTA 6 could benefit from generative AI in these ways, says Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

www.inverse.com

A decade after Rockstar released its last Grand Theft Auto game, anticipation for GTA 6 has reached a fever pitch. But on the eve of a major earnings call from parent company Take-Two, CEO Strauss Zelnick revealed new details about the upcoming game — and how the rise of generative AI could make the next Grand Theft Auto even better.

When asked about the benefits of AI for the video game industry during an interview discussion at the Paley International Council Summit on November 7, which Inverse attended, Zelnick seemed optimistic about the technology but caveated by saying that he believes “it may be better, but it almost certainly will not be faster and cheaper,” as he foresees that a race to adopt AI will force Take-Two to make major investments in developing its own.

However, that investment may be worth it. Zelnick said one area where generative AI can improve games is non-player characters. Specifically, the technology could add more variety to dialogue trees and induce players to keep coming back.

“Everyone’s working on that,” he said. “You’re a playable character, you’re interacting with the non-playable character. That interaction is currently scripted. And the non-playable characters are generally not very interesting. You could imagine all the NPCs becoming really interesting and fun.”

 

[Kurotri]

 

[kikkis]

I guess I can sort of see some mundane discussions being possible being with npcs. But I don't ever see them being interesting

 

[Three]

Then why did Take2 shut down the GTA5 AI characters mod?

I guess they need to figure out how to monetise it.

 

[lh032]

i prefer infinite side quest.

 

[Darsxx82]

I guess Alana Pearce and many people are not going to play any of the next GTAs again

 

[Roberts]

"Zelnick said one area where generative AI can improve games is non-player characters. "

This is exactly what I said in the other thread. Imagine a real writer composes a book of some sort on all the lore in the game and feeds it to npcs. And then they have pretty much unlimited ways of talking nonsense like:"I still remember 1997 when they blew up a bank downtown. I read the news while taking a shit" and will never have to repeat themselves.

Edit: I am talking about people that wonder the streets that you don't interact with. I would still like for all the interactions with your character to be written by a real writer.

 

[Elitro]

For the first experiments i can definitely see the main story arcs being scripted and some random npc interactions being A.I. generated.

Ofc it won't be cheaper, since companies will have to spend alot of time ensuring the A.I. is on very strict rails. Can you imagine going down the street and some random npc spouts a hot take on current geo-political conflicts or other sensitive topics? (religion/minorities/etc...).

Personally i'm quite optimistic. So i'm quite excited to see games experimenting with this technology

 

[Punished Miku]

It would be cool, but doesn't really seem all that needed unless you're able to talk to NPCs fully with your own voice or a keyboard. You don't even talk to GTA characters at all or have pre-scripted choices right? So this is not really that needed for GTA.

But you could imagine something like an RPG where you can fully speak to characters, but then their replies would have to be heavily restricted as well to stay in character, or to not point you to outcomes not planned by the developers since there would be no content for that.

The most likely application for AI that I could see in the next few years would be like a system level "buddy" that's part of the system UI. You talk to it and ask it questions if you want, or even have them jump in co-op games. Something like Hatsune Miku where it's just 1 character and their only point is to talk to you really, or Seaman.

 

[Punished Miku]

"Zelnick said one area where generative AI can improve games is non-player characters. "

This is exactly what I said in the other thread. Imagine a real writer composes a book of some sort on all the lore in the game and feeds it to npcs. And then they have pretty much unlimited ways of talking nonsense like:"I still remember 1997 when they blew up a bank downtown. I read the news while taking a shit" and will never have to repeat themselves.

That's actually pretty interesting.

 

[Z O N E]

Mentioned it in the other thread.

It's only time before all developers start using AI to help. No more wasting time thinking of dialogue and inputting it for NPCs that are there to just "fill the world" when you can have AI do it whilst you just over-look the results.

Having AI be able to talk about a hell of a lot more things whilst you interact with the world instead of being restricted to what a writer wrote will be a game changer.

 

[RyRy93]

“It may be better, but it almost certainly will not be faster and cheaper”

Did he mean to say it almost certainly WILL be faster and cheaper to make content via AI?

 

[Jakk]

Clickbait article. I don't think we'll see generative AI being used for NPC dialogues in GTA VI (or whatever it's called). He was mostly talking about being excited for the future. And even then, people like Zelnick have no idea about the underlying technology, they are just parroting what is being talked about in the industry.

 

[Roberts]

That's actually pretty interesting.

Yeah, let me indulge myself with a personal anecdote.

So, my daughter doesn't want me to read books before she sleeps. She wants me to tell stories stories about the characters we both created. It's all cool and all, but after 300 evenings it gets tiresome. So, I feed chat-gpt with all the backstory, characters and their relationships - it takes me 5 minutes and then AI does the rest. Stories might be a bit more formulaic but they weirdness and the character quirks still come through. It makes my life easier and she is happy.

So, yeah, I still believe AI can do good stuff as long as it doesn't completely take over.

 

[KungFucius]

"Zelnick said one area where generative AI can improve games is non-player characters. "

This is exactly what I said in the other thread. Imagine a real writer composes a book of some sort on all the lore in the game and feeds it to npcs. And then they have pretty much unlimited ways of talking nonsense like:"I still remember 1997 when they blew up a bank downtown. I read the news while taking a shit" and will never have to repeat themselves.

Edit: I am talking about people that wonder the streets that you don't interact with. I would still like for all the interactions with your character to be written by a real writer.

This only works if they use AI to generate the NPC's appearance so they are unique too. This would probably need to be done on the fly or via some online connection. Or they simply go full on bloat and let games grow as they have in recent years even if the resolution isn't driving it.

 

[Krappadizzle]

He's right.

A.I. is gonna make a lot of things awesome. Like really really really cool.

Until it doesn't.

 

[HL3.exe]

“You’re a playable character, you’re interacting with the non-playable character. That interaction is currently scripted. And the non-playable characters are generally not very interesting. You could imagine all the NPCs becoming really interesting and fun.”

Yikes. What a dumbfuck quote.

Kinda low-balling all the effort and work that goes into developing characters and scripted arcs.

 

[Schmick]

I'm now slightly disappointed that GTA VI won't have AI generated NPC chat.

Side note - how does the AI aspect actually work... would this mean with out question, an internet connection would have to be maintain? Is the AI speech generated from a server or from the game install?

 

[Punished Miku]

Yeah, let me indulge myself with a personal anecdote.

So, my daughter doesn't want me to read books before she sleeps. She wants me to tell stories stories about the characters we both created. It's all cool and all, but after 300 evening it gets tiresome. So, I feed chat GPT with all the backstory, characters and their relationships - it takes me 5 minutes and then AI does the rest. Stories might be a bit more formulaic but they weirdness and the character quirks still come through. It makes my life easier and she is happy.

So, yeah, I still believe AI can do good stuff as long as it doesn't completely take over.

Yeah, if they start small it could be neat. Like the tiny little vocal lines you hear from NPCs when you walk around a town in Starfield. They'd have to generate them then still voice record them but it would be faster potentially. And they'd all probably have to be reviewed by someone since there will be some nonsense.

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

i prefer infinite side quest.

Yeeesss use AI to make side quests after the game ends

 

[Roberts]

And they'd all probably have to be reviewed by someone since there will be some nonsense.

Local cable providers here already offer an optional way to see channels like National Geographic dubbed by AI into my language. I heard stories from my mom that for 99% of the time it sounds like a real person, does proper grammar and all, but then once in a while it would say something so weird that you can't help but laugh.

 

[lh032]

Yeeesss use AI to make side quests after the game ends

yep.

My problem with GTA and RDR is that the world design is amazing, but theres nothing to do once the main story and all the side quest completed, and i dont play online

 

[BootsLoader]

Be ready to play games that feel like shit and pay 70$ for them.

 

[DaGwaphics]

"Zelnick said one area where generative AI can improve games is non-player characters. "

This is exactly what I said in the other thread. Imagine a real writer composes a book of some sort on all the lore in the game and feeds it to npcs. And then they have pretty much unlimited ways of talking nonsense like:"I still remember 1997 when they blew up a bank downtown. I read the news while taking a shit" and will never have to repeat themselves.

Edit: I am talking about people that wonder the streets that you don't interact with. I would still like for all the interactions with your character to be written by a real writer.

Exactly, it could make the background conversations more interesting. They could also discuss current events that the player has been involved with but could exaggerate and misinterpret situations, etc.

Some games could really use this. When I played Mafia 3 it seemed like the NPCs had about 10 conversations total.

 

[Raven77]

I guess I can sort of see some mundane discussions being possible being with npcs. But I don't ever see them being interesting

They're already doing this on games, and they are already interesting. Look up the YouTube videos for this in Skyrim and The Matrix unreal engine demo thing.

 

[ThisIsMyDog]

Be ready to play games that feel like shit and pay 70$ for them.

so what will change

 

[Raven77]

I'm now slightly disappointed that GTA VI won't have AI generated NPC chat.

Side note - how does the AI aspect actually work... would this mean with out question, an internet connection would have to be maintain? Is the AI speech generated from a server or from the game install?

No connection needed. The scripting would be built into the games engine. And it could be updated with patches, etc.

 

[BootsLoader]

so what will change

Didn’t think about it that way.

 

[Danknugz]

This is almost cliche to say at this point but there's so many possibilities. Imagine just going downtown and causing chaos and then the next day you walk around and NPCs are talking about "the crazy shit that happened yesterday" with explicit details on what you did and the cop chase afterwards etc.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

i prefer infinite side quest.

This so fucking hard!!!

Especially if the sandbox gives you a plethora of options for how to tackle objectives. This would provide endless gameplay possibilities.

 

[willothedog]

Strauss Zelnick, such a superb 'Bond' villain name.​

 

[Lokaum D+]

"How AI Can Make GTA 6 Even Better"

 

[Scotty W]

Yeah, let me indulge myself with a personal anecdote.

So, my daughter doesn't want me to read books before she sleeps. She wants me to tell stories stories about the characters we both created. It's all cool and all, but after 300 evenings it gets tiresome. So, I feed chat-gpt with all the backstory, characters and their relationships - it takes me 5 minutes and then AI does the rest. Stories might be a bit more formulaic but they weirdness and the character quirks still come through. It makes my life easier and she is happy.

So, yeah, I still believe AI can do good stuff as long as it doesn't completely take over.

For the love of God, please do not do this.

 

[T4keD0wN]

I would have no problem if it was only being used for what would otherwise be an npc that cannot be interacted with in any way, but we all know it wouldnt end there and some studios would use it for main/side stuff before long.

 

[Magic Carpet]

In the Log Horizon anime had the NPC's start gaining real lives and then turn on the gamers. Probably my favorite of that kind of genre, It has the most adorable Ninja girl ever.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Be ready to play games that feel like shit and pay 70$ for them.

Aren’t we doing that already?

 

[BootsLoader]

Aren’t we doing that already?

I think in most cases yea, but not in all cases.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Aren’t we doing that already?

Hey 70$ is just for a part of the game, we are paying way more for full games.

 

[nowhat]

“Everyone’s working on that,” he said. “You’re a playable character, you’re interacting with the non-playable character. That interaction is currently scripted. And the non-playable characters are generally not very interesting. You could imagine all the NPCs becoming really interesting and fun.”

Watch Dogs Legion tried this (with admittedly less AI, although there was some voice alteration techniques to make people sound different). It didn't go well.

 

[Neilg]

He's not wrong but there's no way they're using it for GTA6.
It would never be pulled from chatgpt - they'd have to custom write their own database of lines of dialogue, break it up into demographics and locations in the world so it's not one AI for all people, hire voice actors to read thousands of the generated lines to get the AI actually sounding good. And then on consoles you'd probably have to bake all this down to audio files and scripted moments anyway because it wouldn't have the processing power to do it on the fly.
What it would mean from a creative point of view is that it's easier to generate variations of lines, easier to give people more things to say late in development, easier for them to react to / talk about events happening in the world. It would massively increase up front development time and cost. And rockstar being rockstar, they'd throw it all away and start over for the next project because they do not re-use assets.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

Advanced Grand Theft Auto NPC's a decade from now when players pull a gun on them...

 

[Roberts]

For the love of God, please do not do this.

I'm fully aware. I don't do it everyday and when I do I usually add little details to spark her imagination. When you have been working all day and your brain barely functions, this can be a life-saver. It is basically an assist tool, not a replacement.

 

[Negotiator101]

And who's leading the way?

 

[platina]

Only a matter of time

 

[balls of snow]

Would be funny if you had that one npc on the same street and your character just conversing nonsense with them everytime you pass by. Im one of those that double tap the talk button on npc to make sure I get all the useless dialogue for immersion.

 

[Myths]

Didn’t they hand out a C&D not too long ago for someone that made a voice AI mod in GTA 5?

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Ideally, NPCs would have some hidden parameters:
- an agenda (goal, interest, need)
- allegiances/loyalties (to other NPCs, player character, etc)
- information (what do they know right now?)
- plans (next step, where will they go, attack, etc)

And what you'd do is to allow natural conversations with them, where the model is allowed to make background changes to the character's parameters based on the conversation.

Example:

You talk to the NPC and they're tight lipped about giving you info, but you do find out they're gunning for someone, and you know where that person is
You reveal to them that person's location, and (assuming they believe you, if their loyalty/allegiance to you is high enough so far) they update their plans to target that location
Background plots continue, and simulation decides that the NPC kills that other character off screen
You run into them again, now their loyalty to you is very high since it was adjusted when you helped them achieve their goal
Now you grill them on some other topic and they open up, reveal to you some information you didn't have before

 

[SHA]

Yeah, let me indulge myself with a personal anecdote.

So, my daughter doesn't want me to read books before she sleeps. She wants me to tell stories stories about the characters we both created. It's all cool and all, but after 300 evenings it gets tiresome. So, I feed chat-gpt with all the backstory, characters and their relationships - it takes me 5 minutes and then AI does the rest. Stories might be a bit more formulaic but they weirdness and the character quirks still come through. It makes my life easier and she is happy.

So, yeah, I still believe AI can do good stuff as long as it doesn't completely take over.

You can't use AI on your daughter, she needs you.

 

[Kikorin]

I'm totally in for a main story and main side quests handmade and other secondary content made by AI.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Didn't AI do a good portion of that atrocious GTA Trilogy port?