Square Enix, the Japanese video game developer behind popular franchises such as Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider, has announced the release of a new tech demo showcasing their latest Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology. The demo is based on the classic adventure game "The Portopia Serial Murder Case," which was first released in Japan in 1983.
At the time of its original release, adventure games were mainly played using a "command input" system, where players typed in text to decide their character's actions. One limitation was that players often knew what they wanted to do, but couldn't find the right wording.
Square Enix AI Tech Preview: The Portopia Serial Murder Case - Screenshot
Square Enix's new demonstration shows how modern NLP technology can overcome these limitations. The company has used "The Portopia Serial Murder Case" to showcase the capabilities of NLP and the impact it can have on adventure games, as well as deepen players' understanding of NLP technologies.
NLP is a technology that allows computers to understand natural languages, such as human speech or written text. It involves complex deep-learning techniques conducted on large sets of text data. Its goal is to make it possible for computers to correctly understand natural language, even when it is ambiguous.
Square Enix AI Tech Preview: The Portopia Serial Murder Case - Screenshot
Square Enix's tech demo uses speech-to-text (STT) technology to allow players to give instructions using their own voices, rather than typing them out with a keyboard. However, this requires a CUDA-capable graphics processing unit (GPU) and a large amount of video RAM for satisfactory performance.
The tech demo also includes Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technology to help the junior detective character in the game understand the player's instructions. Natural Language Generation (NLG) technology was originally included in the demo, but due to concerns about unethical responses by the AI, this function was omitted from the release.
Square Enix AI Tech Preview: The Portopia Serial Murder Case - Screenshot
Square Enix's tech demo demonstrates the potential of NLP technology in gaming and beyond. It also highlights the continuing advancements in AI, which is expected to have a significant impact on society in the years to come. The tech demo for "The Portopia Serial Murder Case" will be released for free on April 23.