Ubisoft’s New AI: Breathing Life Into Games!

TL;DR

Ubisoft has developed an AI technique that can generate realistic gestures for virtual characters based on speech input, with the ability to control and customize the gestures for different styles, speakers, and languages.

Transcript

Dear Fellow Scholars, this is Two Minute  Papers with Dr. Károly Zsolnai-Fehér. Earlier we talked about AI-based techniques  that can learn to clone your voice, and then,   we can perform text to speech. So, it would learn  this. And then, the AI would generate this. Yes,   this means that we can write something,  and the AI says it in our voice. S... Read More

Key Insights

• 🌟 AI-based techniques can now generate speech that sounds like a specific person's voice, opening up possibilities for text-to-speech applications.
• 🤝 Ubisoft is exploring the idea of creating a dataset of gestures for virtual characters to improve their realism and intelligence.
• 👀 Humans are highly attuned to the gestures of other humans, making it challenging to achieve flawless animations that won't be immediately noticed.
• 🚀 In just two years, there has been significant progress in generating realistic gestures, with the latest technique showing remarkable improvement.
• 🗣️ The new technique can also generate gestures for new speakers and even new languages, showcasing its versatility and generalizability.
• 🎨 Artistic control is possible with this technique, allowing for adjustments in hand positions and the level of hip movement during a monologue.
• ️ The new technique is about seven times faster and uses a simpler neural network compared to previous methods.
• 💪 The neural network only requires about 2 hours of gesture data to learn, making it relatively efficient and accessible for training.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does Ubisoft's AI generate gestures from speech input?

Ubisoft's AI learns from a dataset of gestures associated with different speech samples, allowing it to generate corresponding gestures based on speech input. The AI can mimic various styles and speakers, making the gestures more realistic and tailored to the specific context.

Q: Can the AI generate gestures for new speakers it hasn't heard before?

Yes, the AI is capable of generating gestures for new speakers by generalizing from the learned dataset. It can adapt its gesture generation to match the speech characteristics of the new speaker, resulting in realistic and synchronized gestures.

Q: What level of control does the AI provide over the generated gestures?

The AI offers a high degree of control over the generated gestures. Users can adjust the style, energy level, and specific movements of the gestures, allowing for customization according to their preferences. This control extends from subtle adjustments to overall gestures to more detailed modifications of individual body parts.

Q: How does the new technique compare to previous methods?

The new technique is a significant improvement over previous methods. It produces more realistic gestures that closely match the speech input, and it provides greater control and customization options. Additionally, the new technique is about 7 times faster and uses a simpler neural network architecture, making it more efficient and accessible for generating lifelike characters in virtual worlds.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Ubisoft has created a dataset of gestures for virtual characters, allowing an AI to learn from it and generate gestures based on speech input.

• The AI can generate long sequences of gestures, with the ability to mimic different styles and speakers.

• The technique is more realistic, controllable, and faster than previous methods, requiring only about 2 hours of gesture data for training.