Game AI is the luxury111 behind non-player character behavior & the creation of lifelike environments, missions, combat encounters, etc. The result is a more immersive & engaging gaming experience. Using reinforcement learning, developers can design adversaries that adapt to player strategies & tactics, making them far more unpredictable than traditional rule-based opponents.

Pathfinding AI allows NPCs to move in a more natural way, navigating obstacles & avoiding those they can’t walk through, just like a real person would. AI can also be programmed to follow markers set by a player, like when they are low on health, so they can react in specific ways, like taking cover in a firefight or throwing a grenade.

How AI Is Changing the Future of Gaming

Generative AI allows games to create their own assets & gameplay based on the user’s input, creating unique experiences that keep gamers engrossed in the action. For example, if a game detects that the player prefers puzzles over combat, it could alter the narrative progression & introduce companions to suit their personality.

Generative AI can be used to create photorealistic environments & effects, such as water, smoke, dust, or foliage movement. This is extremely difficult to do with traditional graphics engines, and requires a lot of processing power. However, using deep neural networks to learn from data sets generated by the game engine itself, developers can generate incredibly realistic scenes & effects at scale. The image below is an example of a level created by this type of AI in the action role-playing game Fallout 4.