4 hours ago
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, its impact on how we interact with the world around us is expected to transform a variety of industries. One area where that transformation is underway is in the digital entertainment space, where studios building big-budget games — known as “AAA” games — are leveraging the latest technologies to generate highly detailed 3D worlds with realistic and adaptive characters. It’s not just about the characters we choose to play when embarking on a new gaming adventure; AI is remaking the so-called non-player characters (NPCs) that bring the experience to life.
Traditionally, NPCs had a specific, narrow set of pre-scripted actions that they would perform, and were unable to participate in an organic conversation. Nowadays, imagine playing a game where characters and environments adapt and respond intelligently to your actions, making each experience unique and engaging.
That is the vision that Artificial Agency is turning into reality, and why we’re excited to welcome the company to the Toyota Ventures portfolio.
Based in Edmonton, Canada, Artificial Agency is developing an AI-powered behavior engine that enables developers to transform characters and other decision-making systems into individualized AI agents with perceptions, actions, personalities, and goals. The company delivers character decisions at runtime, not scripted beforehand, and acts as the characters’ “brain” — adding another dimension to the gaming experience. Artificial Agency was founded in 2023 by Brian Tanner (who serves as CEO), Alex Kearney, Mike Johanson, and Andrew Butcher, and the co-founders have extensive knowledge of machine learning from working at companies like DeepMind, as well as experience at gaming studios such as Bioware.
“We’re excited about how Artificial Agency’s AI behavioral engine can accelerate game development and create a more immersive, engaging experience for players, ultimately paving the way for new gameplay ideas. The team’s experience in machine learning and game development is impressive, and we’re proud to support their work towards advancing human–AI interactions.” –Chris Abshire, principal, Toyota Ventures Frontier Fund
While 3D virtual worlds have grown increasingly realistic from a visual aspect, and AI is lowering these costs, character development in games has lagged behind and remained expensive. Many characters are needed to populate these worlds and interact with each other and the main playable character. This challenge — multi-agent planning — is both incredibly complex and costly. Artificial Agency aims to make game development faster and more affordable by automating multi-agent behaviors that combine actions and dialogue dynamically. A key value proposition for developers is that the engine can integrate with a game at multiple points in development, from the beginning of design to even after it’s released.
Once integrated, Artificial Agency’s behavioral engine elevates the NPC’s understanding and the way it engages with its environment, other characters, and ongoing events. Artificial Agency also acts as a game “director” that can adjust the difficulty for human players, creating tutorials on an as-needed basis to assist a struggling player. The result is a richer, more immersive gaming experience with a wider range of interactions — a far cry from the NPCs found in legacy games.
It is exciting to see these new types of human interactions with AI agents in virtual worlds, and to consider the possibilities of how further advancements might lead to new applications in the real world. Toyota Ventures is proud to support the Artificial Agency team by co-leading the company’s $16 million financing round with Radical Ventures, with participation from Flying Fish VC and others. Chris Abshire, a principal on the Frontier Fund, drove Toyota Ventures’ participation in the round.
Visit Artificial Agency’s website or the Toyota Ventures portfolio page to learn more.