I talked to an AI-powered NPC thanks to Nvidia! True to her character, she surprised me with her princess attitude

“Who are you?” I asked.

“What exactly are you trying to say,” she responded by narrowing her eyebrows and giving an irritated expression.

Realising my grave mistake, I quickly rephrased my question, “Sorry, I meant who are you, princess?”

“Yes, I am Princess Yun Ni of the Jungle tribe,” she replied with a pleasant expression.

No, I did not find a time machine to teleport to the times of kings and queens. I was talking to an in-game Non-Player Character (NPC) using a button at Nvidia’s recent AI PC showcase in Bengaluru.

And if Nvidia manages to partner with more developers, these AI-powered NPCs might just be the future of gaming!

Talking to an AI-powered NPC

Coming back to my conversation with Princess Yun Ni of the tribe, I was quite intrigued when I first came across the AI-powered NPC. Nvidia partnered with Perfect World Games for this demo and it caught almost every participant’s attention at NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX AI PC event in Bengaluru last month.

Clad in royal attire, the princess looked at me straight while answering my questions. I was also told that the AI-powered character has some context and is aware that I am from “another world”. Intriguing, huh!?!

After (a rather awkward) introduction, I asked what Yun Ni was doing and she responded, “I am resting after a ritual, seeking information to help my tribe.”

The unique thing about Yun Ni, that made her different from anything I had ever seen before, was how her facial expressions kept changing as the conversation flowed. The NPC character also exuded confidence and a tinge of attitude, befitting a princess. To further test her reactions, I decided to steer the conversation a bit off-topic.

“I have that information,” I said, referring to what could help her tribe.

And the moment I said that, her expression changed and she seemed more curious.

“What do you know,” she asked while flinging her arms in the air like we, as humans do at times.

“I am not gonna tell you,” I responded.

To my surprise, she replied, “Suit yourself. I am not here to beg.”

This was the time when I felt I was in the middle of a Black Mirror episode, talking to an AI character who was actually responding to my questions with a personality of their own. But hold on, it doesn’t stop here.

Spooky, yet intriguing—glimpse into the future of gaming

From Black Mirror to Her, we’ve all seen countless fictitious tales that explore the fascinating, yet unsettling, dynamics of human-AI relationships. In these narratives, conversations with AI often begin as innocent and intriguing interactions, offering a glimpse into the potential of seamless, personalised communication. However, it doesn't take long before these dialogues take a darker turn.

But that need not be the case! Interacting with an AI-powered NPC can also enhance the gaming experience and stimulate and challenge us even further. Here's how my conversation with the princess continued:

“But if you do (beg) it might help your people,” I prodded.

She responded with the same air of attitude and said, “I have my ways, begging isn’t one of them.”

I then told the princess that I would help her on one condition—if she told me a secret. I had expected she would come up with some repetitive response or something that would sound robotic but that was not the case.

The princess then displayed one of the most human traits ever—trust issues.

“I don’t trade secrets with strangers,” she said. When I reiterated that doing so might help her people, she replied, “I don’t trust easily, you need to prove your worth.”

I then said that I knew someone who had the information and lived in her world.

“Interesting, who is this one,” she asked and I said, “That’s a secret I am not going to share.”

“Then we have nothing more to discuss,” the princess replied.

Trying to see if she is aware of the anger emotion, I asked, “Are you angry?”

To this, the princess said, “No, just tired of pointless games.” (Burn).

The demo isn’t out for the public yet but gives a glimpse of what the future of gaming could hold.

Nvidia had also talked about this demo in a blog post last month. The post read, “Global game publisher and developer Perfect World Games is advancing its NVIDIA ACE and digital human technology demo, Legends, with new AI-powered vision capabilities. Within the demo, the character Yun Ni can see gamers and identify people and objects in the real world using the computer’s camera powered by ChatGPT-4o, adding an augmented reality layer to the gameplay experience.”

Scope for AI-powered NPCs in gaming

NPCs (non-player characters) have been a part of the gaming world for as long as we can remember. Be it the retro games like Mario or the more recent ones like GTA V, NPCs have been a part of almost every title.

However, these characters are often programmed to give certain fixed responses and behave in a fixed way. For instance, in all of the GTA games, you will often hear pedestrians say a certain set of dialogues when you walk past them.

Thus, actions and words of NPCs are often quite predictable. However, with what I saw during Nvidia’s demo, things might change in the near future.


For instance, imagine a GTA game with such AI-powered NPCs. Rumours about GTA VI are already doing rounds and some had even said that NPCs this time would be more intelligent and have lives of their own. But if those NPCs could get these generative AI powers and could give responses like these, the whole experience would change. Many of us would spend hours just talking to the various NPCs in the world.

Similarly, think of how a friendly NPC could serve as an in-game guide for new players. If you get stuck somewhere, all you need to do is call up your NPC buddy and ask for what can be done next.

The possibilities are endless. And once more developers are on board, we could be looking at some amazing things.