Nvidia has just announced ACE Nemotron-4 4B, a new small language model (SLM) that allows game developers to add AI-powered NPCs easily into their games. Nvidia ACE Nemotron-4 4B will allow gamers to have natural language interactions with in-game characters, in a similar manner to large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, but all powered locally via an Nvidia RTX GPU.
The new Nvidia tech that will first be found in the upcoming mech shooter game, Mecha Break, gives the company another way to differentiate its best graphics cards from the competition, as the tech will only work on RTX GPUs.
The essence of this technology is that it uses the local processing power of your GPU to power an AI language model right inside your game. This can then be used to interpret your voice or text input without the need for strict fixed dialogue selections.
The Minitron 4B tech is part of an existing wider suite of NiM microservices packaged together as Nvidia ACE, which as a whole provide a single means for developers to implement voice-to-text recognition, language model response generation, and audio-to-facial animation technology.
We first saw demos of similar technology at CES (Nvidia AI NPC demo) and Computex (Project G-Assist), but the former used cloud-based language generation and the latter was a game overlay rather than built into the game. For the former, the demo would interpret the language, send the text to the online LLM to generate a response then feed that back to the gamer. With Nvidia ACE NiM, though, it’s all local. This means it should be speedy and take away concerns about being always online. However, localized language generation means the quality of the responses isn’t as sophisticated as with large language models.
As a reflection of this, the technology is only being used to power the mech selection section of Mecha Break, rather than it being a general part of the overall game. So, you can ask the mechanic for advice on which mech to choose for each mission but once you’re in the mission you’re on your own. Mecha Break otherwise utilizes a cast of human voice actors throughout the game, which will be available at launch.
Still, it’s an interesting first step towards AI being integrated into games and it feels actually useful and positive. For more Gamescom news, stick with us for coverage of all the new game reveals and previews.
