Sunday Story: AI Advances Continue

The Wild West - just saying that evokes an image in your mind, likely crafted by the outsized influence of a relatively short period in history and the plethora of films and stories that were inspired by it. From John Wayne to Kurt Russel, Western movies have been a staple of the silver screen for generations, and it should be no surprise that the setting made the leap to video games. Some of the best-known video games in the genre are the Red Dead Redemption series, created by Rockstar games.

The arcade-style Red Dead Revolver was followed up by an open-world role playing game where the player entered the shoes of John Marsden and his reluctant service to the government as a bounty hunter going after all of his old gang mates. The player would traverse a fully explorable world on foot, horseback, and sometimes train, populated by non-player characters who have routines, personalities, dialog and more. It started development in 2004, and after 6 years of effort, was released to critical acclaim. It’s sequel (or prequel, technically), Red Dead Redemption 2, started development right after the first game was released, and finally hit gamer’s screens in 2019 featuring similar gameplay - riding a horse around a wide-open 3D world.

So of course the first game took 6 years and the second game took 9 years to be released - designing a three-dimensional replica of the Wild West is the kind of task that would take time and resources. And resources it did indeed take - the production budget for these games was over $100 million dollars for the first game, and over $500 million dollars for the second game. But as you can see, the investment was worth it - look at how realistic it is to ride your horse through this world they’ve created (Don't feel you have to watch the whole thing to get the gist of what this experience is like):

Except…once again, the AI disruptor shows up to change things for everyone. Google just demo’d an AI that can generate Red Dead Redemption-style open worlds in seconds based off a few lines of text. Check out the launch video here:

Now, let’s walk through some of the most basic implications of this technology:

1) The on-ramp to a video game experience is a lot shorter. With this product, a person with an idea can create world and, as the technology is refined, will likely be able to create a robust “video game” experience for the user - $100 million dollars not required. Of course, it’s important to recognize that the video game I’m referencing is a lot more than just a 3D world - it’s a level of detail in the voice acting, the way the characters move, and how it all comes together into the “perfect Western” that makes it special, and the Google product can’t do that right now (though other AI can do a passable job of voice acting, art generation, and more - so again, the barriers to entry are all a lot lower because of AI.)

2) Imagine how educational lessons can look different with technology like this. Match this tech with a VR headset, and the “sage from a stage” model becomes “a walking tour through medieval Europe with your professor as your guide”.

3) FaceTime is likely to evolve dramatically. Remember, before COVID, few people ever used video chat it seemed, however it exploded once we were forced into lockdown with an awful lot of people continuing to rely on it to stay connected to those they love. And then the artificial “green screen” backgrounds started coming in, which meant we could all be a little less particular about keeping our offices tidy. The next stage of video chat is likely some version of this generate-on-demand 3D technology, where instead of “face to face” via a screen, it’s the opportunity to go for a walk along a 3D generated river bank, or take in a classic baseball game, or any number of other types of social experiences. It’s not quite the Holodeck from Star Trek, but it’s a lot closer!

Thanks for reading this week’s Sunday Story - we’re in the midst of a site redesign which might change your experience slightly, but if you are a regular reader, this minor disruption will hardly be a blip for you because you’re already prepared for that, right?

See you next Sunday!