the increase in AI NPCs felt like a looming threat for years, as developers couldn’t wait to ditch the human writers and offload NPC conversations to generative AI models . At CES 2025, NVIDIA made it clear that the technology is just around the corner. PUBG Developer Krafton, for example, plans to use NVIDIA’s ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) to power AI companions, who will help and tease you in games. Krafton doesn’t just stop there – it also uses ACE in its life simulation title InZOI to make the characters smarter and create things.

While the use of generative AI in games seems almost inevitable, since the medium is constantly playing with new methods of making enemies and NPCs seem smarter and more realistic, the view of many NVIDIA ACE demos back-to-back made me really sick to my stomach. It’s not just a slightly smarter enemy AI – ACE can create entire conversations out of thin air, mimic voices and try to give NPCs a sense of personality. It also works locally on your PC, powered by NVIDIA’s RTX GPUs. But while all that might sound cool on paper, I hated almost every second I saw the AI ​​NPCs in action.

TiGames’ ZooPunk a prime example: It relies on NVIDIA ACE to generate dialog, a virtual voice and lip sync for an NPC named Buck. But as you can see in the video above, Buck sounds like a stilted robot with a slight country accent. If he has some sort of relationship with the main character, you wouldn’t know from the show.

I think my visceral aversion to NVIDIA’s ACE-powered AI comes down to this: There’s nothing compelling about it. No joy, no warmth, no people. Every character in ACE AI feels like a developer cutting corners in the worst way possible, as you can see their disdain for the audience showing a boring NPC. I’d rather scroll through some on-screen text, at least I don’t have to talk to weird robot voices.

During NVIDIA’s Editor’s Day at CES, a gathering for media to learn more about new RTX 5000-series GPUs and their related technology, I was also underwhelmed by a demo of PUBG AI Ally. Its answers are similar to what you would hear from a pre-recorded phone line. Ally also fails to find a gun when the player asks, which can be a fatal flaw on a crowded map. At one point, the PUBG The companion also spent about 15 seconds attacking enemies while the demo player screamed that he could ride a car. What good is an AI assistant if it plays like a noob?

Check out NVIDIA’s YouTube channel and you’ll find other frustrating examples of ACE, like basic MMO speech animations. World of the Jade Dynasty (above) and Alien: Rogue Incursion. I’m sure many devs would love to skip the task of developing decent lip sync technology, or adopt someone else’s, but for these games relying on AI seems terrible.

To be clear, I don’t think NVIDIA’s AI efforts have been futile. I’ve loved seeing DLSS improve over the years, and I’m interested to see how the multi-frame generation of DLSS 4 can improve 4K and ray-tracing performance for demanding games. The company’s neural shader technology is also compelling, especially its ability to apply a realistic sheen to material like silk, or evoke the slight transparency you see from skin. These aren’t huge visual leaps, to be clear, but they help provide a better sense of immersion.

Now I’m sure some AI boosters will say that the technology will only get better from here, and at some unknown point in the future, it may approach the quality of human creativity. perhaps. But I’m personally tired of being sold on AI fantasies, when we know that the key to great writing and performances is giving human talent the time and resources to refine their craft. And on some level, I think I always feel like director Hayao Miyazakiwho described an early example of an AI CG creature as, “a mockery of life itself.”

AI, like any new technology, is a tool that can be deployed in many ways. For things like graphics and gameplay (like intelligent enemies in FEAR and The Last of Us), it makes sense. But when it comes to talking to NPCs, writing their dialogue and creating their performances, I value human effort more than anything else. Replacing that with lifeless AI doesn’t seem like a step forward by any means.