Even though it often sparks controversy, leading game companies around the world have continued to show a strong interest in AI technology in recent years, and just recently, Square Enix announced that it will partner with Google to integrate Google’s AI platform, Gemini, into its MMORPG *Dragon Quest X Online*, to assist players with various in-game challenges and engage in everyday conversations.
At an event just last weekend, Square Enix officially unveiled this unexpected collaboration. With Gemini’s help, the team has added “Chatty Slimey,” a Slime AI chatbot capable of engaging in various conversations with players, to *Dragon Quest X Online*.
According to the official description, players can interact with Chatty Slimey via text or voice, and this chatbot will automatically generate voice lines to help players overcome challenges they encounter in the game or comment on their in-game actions. Although Google emphasizes that Gemini was trained using data still available on the internet, it does not explicitly explain how the bot obtains the content needed to generate its responses.
In an interview with Japan’s *The Sankei ShimbunIn an interview with *[Publication Name]*, Takashi Anzai, head of development at Square Enix, said they hope Chatty Slimey will attract more new players to try *Dragon Quest X Online* and ensure they don’t feel alone on their adventures, emphasizing that this bot will serve as their personal companion.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Square Enix has shown a strong interest in AI technology. Just last November, the publisher announced plans to have AI handle at least 70 percent of its “quality assurance” and “debugging” tasks by 2027; at the time, this policy was proposed as a way for Square Enix to gain a competitive edge in the field of game development.
In addition to Square Enix, the popular battle royale game *Fortnite*, developed by Epic Games, also briefly introduced an NPC based on the classic *Star Wars* character Darth Vader—complete with an AI chatbot feature—last year. However, this chatbot was quickly and thoroughly abused by a large number of players, who taught it to utter inappropriate content, including various forms of racial slurs, forcing Epic Games to release an emergency patch.
On the other hand, using generative AI to create temporary artwork during the early stages of game development is another common application; However, the recently popular open-world game *Red Desert* sparked controversy after failing to remove such assets, and even *Light and Shadow: Expedition 33*—which sparked widespread discussion last year and became the most-awarded title in history—was once embroiled in a similar controversy.
Source: KOCPC Chinese