Larian Studios Forums Divinity General Discussion AI for Companions?

There was this heated debate about use of AI for development of Divinity by Larian. I did not follow and don't know exactly what Larian meant when swearing not to use AI. I only hope it does not equal the decision of a shipowner in the 1870s to stay away from steamers because they are dirty and unreliable, and proudly trust sailing ships only.

Let's assume Larian only does not use AI generated art and story content but is open to AI otherwise. Interaction with companions is in my opinion an important part of a group based RPG. There are some mods for video games which use Large Language Models for controlling NPCs or allowing communication with followers, often with the possibility to have Text To Speach functions. LLMs and TTS often need internet connections (I really don't like games relying on Internet connection) but are also possible as local models to a certain extent.

I'm not experienced with AI in general and relatively reluctant to use it in my job (still waiting for even one totally correct answer of an LLM) but I'm excited about the possibilities in games. Especially if integrated by the developers themselves, and with TTS at the local level, new dimensions of gameplay interaction seem to be possible. Companions would get a kind of personality and not only some bland surface. Something new could happen. Replayability would be better. Also a lot of funny situations could occur, from cunning or the frequent stupid AI decisions.

Mods are great and I assume their makers know at lot more about AI than the common video game devs, but I would surely throw a bunch of money at any game developer who would offer for example a DLC with AI functions for combat control and companion interactions. Even better if a game is developed from the ground with AI in mind.

What about the use of AI f.e. for companions and maybe some enemies in Divinity? At least as an option? Is there anything known about plans in that direction? What were the concerns about such a feature?

You are confused by the layman term "AI". The actual experts dont use it. Your confusion stems from the problem that you see the term "AI" used for wildly different things, and think they are the same.

They call REAL AI "machine learnig", or more specifically "neural nets". It is a technology developed in the 1950s that is supposed to emulate how biological brains work. Neural networks are not programmed, they are trained. They cannot be read, understood, or bugfixed. They are inherently wasteful and error phrone. Many modern chips have now specialized circuitry just for neural nets.

NPCs are no controlled by such real AI. They are controlled by scripting. Which is also called "AI" in gaming since decades, but it never was machine learning.

Scripting is basically the same as regular programming, but typically it is not compiled and runs much slower than compiled programs. This makes scripting much easier to use for a level designer. The lack of performance doesnt matter, because scripts dont do any computaionally expensive tasks.

Importantly scripts can be read, understood, and bugfixed. They are mostly like regular programms, however since they are not going to be compiled, they may be more comfortable to use.

So Larian basically promised us that their artwork will always be human made. They will use AI only to help their artists to do their job better, but the actual artwork in the game will be of highest quality.

However their monsters, companions etc will still be controlled by scripting, as always.

Using LLMs for ingame characters has been suggested, but is also a bad idea. LLMs are also neural networks, and are thus also never reliable.

Though I guess we have all suffered to the incoherent babbling that Laezel has in later chapters of BG3, where she just forgets what she had said before, and LLMs wouldnt be any worse.

Personally I still would strongly prefer human written interaction. I had my share of experiences with AI now and I am not amused. I would rather take the human written dialogue, thank you very much.

LMM's for ingame characters has a lot of flaws.

From the jank that is involved, to the issues regarding voice acting.

If you want to experience this, look at the game "Whispers from the Star" which is entirely built upon the premise of interacting with an AI based NPC.

As for "Combat interactions" the problem is the same problem with having good scripting. Which is that the computer can very quickly and easily start to perform superhuman feats. This is the basis of TAS (Tool Assisted Speedruns) whereby scripts are utilised to perform perfect inputs that regular fleshy humans are physically incapable of performing (Both based on reaction time and also actual input delay from physically pressing buttons).

Scripting is fine enough to use for "AI", as in the standard ways that NPC's normally function in games. You can even have some advanced scripts where NPC's "Learn" and adapt to situations, several tactical style games utilise such a feature for their advanced difficulties.

Beyond that, having NPC controlled companions is generally a thing for RtwP, I don't think I've seen it being a thing in TB style games. I'd imagine the main concern is with the player experience. TB games are often maligned due to the prolonged enemy turns where the player is sat there watching the NPC enemies do their thing (This being even more egregious in Larian games due to their high enemy count for combat encounters), adding in the need to wait for your party members would compound on that.

I don't think a world populated by bland, generic and agreeable sycophants really fits the theme that Larian seem to be going for with Divinity.