Artificial Intelligence
Ubisoft Intros NEO NPCs in Partnership with Nvidia
In a creative experiment shown during GDC 2024, a team of game creators from Ubisoft explored the future of Non-Player Characters (NPCs), interactive gameplay, and emergent storytelling. Ubisoft is exploring new types of interactive gameplay with dynamic NPCs, a field that is being revolutioniwed with the emergence of generative AI technologies. “NEO NPCs”, the product of their latest research and development project are advanced NPCs designed to interact in real-time with players, their environment and other characters, opening up new possibilities for dynamic and emergent storytelling.
“AI is a powerful tool that can greatly enhance players’ experiences by making games more dynamic, immersive and unique,” said John Spitzer, vice president of developer and performance technologies at NVIDIA. “We are thrilled to partner with Ubisoft to leverage NVIDIA ACE in the advancement of digital characters.”
Developed by a multidisciplinary team at Ubisoft Paris, NEO NPCs are born from the close collaboration between Ubisoft creators and leading GenAI technology partners, NVIDIA and Inworld AI. Inworld’s Character Engine and LLM technology enable Ubisoft’s narrative team to build a complete background, knowledge base and conversational style for each NPC, while NVIDIA Audio2Face, part of NVIDIA ACE suite of technologies, is used to enable real-time facial animation.
Ubisoft showcased the capabilities of these NEO NPCs through three separate demo scenarios. Each scenario focuses on different aspects of NPC behaviours, environmental and contextual awareness; a spectrum of real-time reactions and animations; as well as conversation memory, collaboration and strategic decision-making. Combined, these discoveries through the experiment push the boundaries of game design and immersion.
“Gen AI will enable player experiences that are yet to be imagined, with smarter worlds, nuanced characters, and emergent and adaptive narratives,” said Guillemette Picard, Ubisoft’s SVP of Production Technology. “By partnering with NVIDIA on our NEO NPCs prototype: NVIDIA’s Audio2Face solution helped us to create deeper immersion through real-time facial animations for truly improvisational NPC conversations.”
With NEO NPCs, Ubisoft’s narrative and animation designers blended the reliability of scripted game elements with the dynamism of spontaneous player interactions, nudging the future of game development towards new horizons. Leveraging Inworld AI technology, Ubisoft’s narrative team created two NEO NPCs, Bloom and Iron, who have their own background story, knowledge base, and different conversational styles to establish these unique characters in the demo universe.
Inworld technology also provides the NEO NPCs with intrinsic knowledge of their surroundings, as well as interactive responses courtesy of Inworld’s LLM. Audio2Face provides facial animations and lip-synching for the two NPCs’ faces in real time. NVIDIA also released a new Game Ready driver for Horizon Forbidden West. The latest Game Ready Driver primes gamers’ PCs or laptops for Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition. Featuring day-one support for DLSS 3, DLAA and Reflex, GeForce gamers should download and install this new driver for the definitive experience when using these technologies in the critically acclaimed game.
This Game Ready Driver also includes support for the latest DLSS 3.5 update for Portal with RTX which introduces DLSS Ray Reconstruction and NVIDIA RTX IO, 11 G-SYNC Compatible gaming displays, and 2 new Optimal Settings, enabling users to jump into the latest games with great performance and image quality, without the need to tweak settings manually.
Artificial Intelligence
Dell Launches AI PCs and Workstations for Everyday Workers and Power Users
Dell Technologies is making significant strides in the realm of AI by introducing the most comprehensive portfolio of AI PCs and workstations in the market. Setting a new benchmark for battery life, productivity, security, and performance, the PCs are tailored to meet the evolving needs of businesses, prioritising customer choice and flexibility, and equipping them for a future powered by AI. The innovative solutions mark a significant step forward in Dell’s broader AI strategy, which aims to use its AI portfolio to support businesses from the desktop to the data centre to the cloud.
“From running complex AI workloads on workstations to using day-to-day AI-powered applications on laptops, the AI PC will be an important investment that pays dividends in productivity and paves the way to a smarter, more efficient future. Dell’s advantage starts with offering more AI PCs across the commercial portfolio from day one, catering to customers’ unique needs and giving them the ability to start future-proofing for AI today,” said Haidi Nossair, Sr. Director – Client Solutions Group – META, Dell Technologies.
The neural processing unit (NPU)–equipped AI PC will grow from nearly 50 million units in 2024 to more than 167 million in 2027, representing nearly 60% of all PC shipments worldwide. The NPU adds an AI acceleration engine that can take on more dedicated AI tasks, freeing up the CPU and GPU to do other things. This creates a more responsive experience and enhances performance, security, battery life and productivity.
Dell provides the world’s most intelligent, manageable and secure commercial PCs. With a new line-up of Latitude laptops and Precision mobile workstations, Dell will offer customers the broadest portfolio of commercial AI laptops and mobile workstations, from entry-level to ultra-premium laptops and workstation options. Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel vPro, Dell commercial PCs drive AI workloads and unlock new levels of productivity and efficiency.
For example, employees can now:
- Collaborate more effectively. Combining the benefits of the NPU to offload capabilities like auto-framing, background blur and eye-tracking with the power efficiency of Intel Core Ultra processors, gives workers up to 38% more battery life and valuable working time in a day packed with Zoom calls.
- Create content faster. By distributing AI processing across the CPU, GPU and now NPU, users can create generative AI images over five times faster with Stable Diffusion, a text-to-image model.
- Work more securely in a hybrid work environment. More ISVs will continue to build applications for the AI PC. For example, Dell is working with CrowdStrike and Intel to offload security functions onto the device via the NPU. This provides more comprehensive threat detection, helping customers swiftly detect malicious sites and security vulnerabilities with reduced latency compared to cloud-based solutions.
- Stay in the flow of work. The portfolio features Windows 11 and a Copilot key to make it even easier to get things done and stay in the flow of work. With the press of a key, you can have faster access to your everyday AI companion.
Building on years of industry leadership in proactive, predictive automation as well as expert advice and managed services, new Dell Services capabilities help customers:
- Maximize PC uptime and improve productivity with new self-healing capabilities through the ProSupport Suite for PCs. Customers who connect to Dell’s SupportAssist technology can leverage telemetry and AI to fix PC issues without human intervention. This lets IT activate Dell-authored scripts to autonomously correct blue screen errors, thermal issues and more across their entire fleet of PCs.
- Keep PC fleet refreshes on track and budget with Dell’s managed services. When customers need new AI devices, Dell provides detailed planning, forecasting and supply chain management to enable timely, targeted multi-vendor device rollouts.
- Adopt and maximize GenAI investments with Digital Employee Experience Services for Gen AI. These services equip employees with the tools and technology tailored to their diverse roles.
Dell’s most intelligent headset portfolio in its class includes five new headsets. The Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset (WL7024) features AI-based noise-cancelling microphones that distinguish human speech signals from background noises from both the user and their audience and adjust the level of noise cancellation based on the user’s environment. The advanced smart sensor intelligently performs tasks like mute/unmute, and pause/play as long as the earcup is lifted, while intuitive touch controls tailor the audio experience.
The fully refreshed Latitude portfolio features updates across the 5000, 7000 and 9000 series. Latitude 5000 is Dell’s mainstream series of devices, offering flexibility, scalability, and security. The series is sustainable by design with materials ranging from recycled plastics to reclaimed carbon fibre, renewable materials and ocean-bound plastics.
The Latitude 7350/7450 Ultralights are the world’s lightest 13.3” and 14” premium commercial laptops. The Latitude 7455 is a premium AI laptop with up to 21 hours of battery life stacked with a stunning 14-inch QHD+ touch display, quad speakers with AI noise reduction, Qualcomm FastConnect Wi-Fi 7 and optional 5G for greater connectivity and collaboration. As Dell’s thinnest Latitude laptop ever, team members have the mobile form factor they need for productivity at the desk or on the go.
Designed for executives, salespeople and consultants, the Latitude 9450 2-in-1 provides a peek into the future of work from anywhere focused on ultra-premium design, collaboration & productivity. It boasts a haptic collaboration touchpad with support for Microsoft Teams and Zoom, a stunning QHD+ Infinity Edge display, top-firing speakers and a new HDR webcam. As new WiFi-7 capability rolls out throughout 2024, the Wi-Fi 7 capable wireless card on Latitude 9450 will expand throughput and connect us to our peers even faster. These enhancements paired with the ability to utilize AI to improve collaboration will deliver a premium new experience to end users.
Now featuring Intel Core Ultra processors Series 2, Dell’s thinnest XPS provides more power and efficiency to effortlessly tackle the most demanding tasks. This includes a dedicated NPU capable of up to 48 TOPS, enabling advanced AI capabilities such as text and image creation and faster photo or video editing. XPS 13 is the first laptop in the world to offer a tandem OLED display, allowing for higher brightness than a traditional OLED display and 26 hours of battery life while streaming on an FHD+ display.
Dell has also introduced new video conferencing monitors with upgraded convenience, a better camera and next-level multitasking features. These monitors are the world’s first 23.8-inch, 27-inch and 34-inch video conferencing monitors certified for both Microsoft Teams and Zoom7. These monitors include an integrated camera, speakers, and microphones to allow for a clean desk setup.
Apps
Gemini Chat Joins Google Workspace
Google is enhancing its business productivity suite, Google Workspace, with the addition of Gemini chatbot. This move aims to expand access to its enterprise-grade AI app and provide users with a powerful AI-powered assistant. “With built-in enterprise-grade data protections, employees can now save time and deliver higher quality work securely and compliantly,” said Aparna Pappu, vice president and general manager of Google Workspace.
Workspace users in the Business, Enterprise, and Frontline plans will automatically gain access to the Gemini app. The app allows users to ask questions about company information and suggest actions based on organizational policies. Similar to Microsoft’s Copilot, Gemini offers a seamless integration into the Workspace suite.
Google emphasizes user control over data and privacy. The company reiterates that data, prompts, and generated responses will not be used to train Gemini models. This is not the first time Google has incorporated generative AI into Workspace. For an additional fee, users can add the Gemini AI model to Gmail, Docs, Drive, and other apps. Google has also previewed Google Vids, an AI video generation platform for enterprise users.
To enhance security, Google announced a new security advisor tool for Workspace customers. This tool provides tailored insights, actionable guidance, and additional threat prevention and data protection controls. The advisor will send security insights directly to IT administrators’ inboxes. Google has also secured industry certifications for Gemini for Workspace, including SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001, and ISO 27001 compliance. Earlier this year, it also achieved HIPAA compliance.
A recent Google survey revealed that 75% of daily Gemini users on Workspace reported improved work quality and time savings of 105 minutes per week. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian highlighted the significant adoption of Gemini among organizations, with over two million developers building with its AI platforms and a 36-fold increase in API usage. Many customers have successfully built AI agents and applications to boost productivity. “We are inspired by the ingenuity and speed with which our customers are embracing generative AI,” said Kurian. “We continue to partner with customers to help them deliver real business value.”
Artificial Intelligence
Acer Expands Copilot+ PC Line with New Swift AI and Swift Go 14 AI Laptops
Acer has launched its latest Swift laptops, powered by the new Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2). The Swift 14 AI and Swift 16 AI Copilot+ PCs offer exceptional AI performance, sleek designs, and a suite of AI-powered features. Equipped with Intel Core Ultra processors, these laptops deliver up to 48 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of NPU AI performance. This enables them to accelerate generative AI tasks and creations with ease. The laptops also feature advanced security features, including biometric security and hardware-level protection, to safeguard user data.
The Swift 14 AI and Swift 16 AI boast premium aluminium chassis and stunning OLED displays with 90 Hz refresh rates and HDR TrueBlack 500 certification. The laptops also offer exceptional battery life, thanks to efficient power management and the new Intel Core Ultra processors. Acer’s suite of AI features includes Copilot+, which provides intelligent assistance for various tasks. The laptops also feature AcerSense, which allows users to control system settings and access AI features with a single click. Additionally, Acer Assist offers AI-powered document search and troubleshooting, while Acer PurifiedView and PurifiedVoice enhance video conferencing experiences.
The Swift 14 AI and Swift 16 AI are Copilot+ PCs, offering a new era of productivity and efficiency. With Copilot, users can access AI-powered tools like Cocreator for image generation and Live Captions for real-time speech translation. The Acer Swift Go 14 AI, powered by a Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor, offers exceptional performance and long battery life. It is designed for everyday users who seek a powerful and accessible AI-powered laptop.
Acer’s new Swift laptops offer a combination of powerful AI performance, sleek designs, and innovative features. Whether you’re a creative professional, a student, or a business user, these laptops have something to offer.