Ubisoft’s Ben Swanson, Research and Development Scientist, created an AI called Ghostwriter. The purpose of this AI is to generate ambient dialogue. According to the press release, “scriptwriters first create a character and a type of interaction or utterance they would like to generate. Ghostwriter then proposes a select number of variations which the scriptwriter can then choose and edit freely to fit their needs…Once one is selected, the tool learns from the preferred choice, and after thousands of selections made by humans, it becomes more effective and accurate.

“Rather than writing first draft versions themselves, Ghostwriter lets scriptwriters select and polish the samples generated,” said Swanson. Overall, Ghostwriter gives the scriptwriters a starting point to save time. However, this has caused a lot of controversies online. Game Writer Alanah Pearce states that this is more time-consuming in a tweet: 

As a writer, having to edit AI-generated scripts/dialogue sounds far more time consuming than just writing my own temp lines 🤷🏼‍♀️. I would far prefer AAA studios use whatever budget it costs to make tools like this to instead hire more writers. https://t.co/VKYPeMHiwY

— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) March 22, 2023

“Ghostwriter isn’t replacing the video game writer, but instead, alleviating one of the video game writer’s most laborious tasks: writing barks,” said Ubisoft. Barks are when there are crowds in a game talking or triggering NPC lines. Like when players in Grand Theft Auto walk down the street and overhear the NPC phone call conversations. Interactions with the environment or the NPC themselves by bumping into them often result in barks commenting on the situation to add immersion to the world.

“By collaborating closely with scriptwriters, the team can learn their needs in order to better fit the tool into the unique worlds of each game. A tech like Ghostwriter requires scriptwriters to learn how to not only use the tool, but also integrate it in their video game production process,” stated the press release. 

In November of 2022, Ubisoft announced that they will be partnering with Riot Games for a project called “Zero Harm in Comms”. This project aims to use AI as a moderator to prevent harmful player interactions. Both companies aim to create a more “meaningful online experience” for players. 

AI has been a growing trend in content creation in the video game industry and Ubisoft’s Ghostwriter is helping to create a more immersive experience for players.