Artificial Agencyan AI startup pioneering generative behavior for games has emerged from obscurity and announced $16 million in funding.
The funding shall be used to speed up the event of the corporate’s flagship product – a
AI-powered behavior engine that allows game developers to embed runtime decisions
seamlessly into every aspect of a game, making a gaming experience that really feels alive.
“AI has enormous potential to revolutionize gaming, but to date the main focus has been totally on very limited human-AI conversations,” said Brian Tanner, CEO of Artificial Agency, in a press release. “The real opportunity lies in unleashing generative behavior across entire worlds, giving developers the tools to remodel each characters and other decision-making systems into individualized AI agents with perceptions, actions, personalities, and goals. This paves the way in which for the creation of entirely recent categories of games which might be more creative, expressive, and deeply individualized.”
Using Artificial Agency's AI-powered behavior engine, game developers can easily integrate generative AI into all types of game mechanics, encouraging engaging behavior in each moment-to-moment interactions and the general game storyline.
Developers can add minor improvisations to scripted interactions, perform full improvisation for spontaneous gameplay, create fully artificial players, and even develop sophisticated gamekeeper systems that control pacing, trigger encounters, and direct players to neglected game elements. The result’s a more immersive and enjoyable experience that keeps players engaged and reduces churn.
“We wanted to make use of our technology to unleash creative superpowers for studios of all sizes and enable them to
“They can increase their productivity and make their wildest creative dreams a reality,” said Mike Johanson, co-founder of Artificial Agency, in a press release. “Our engine is purpose-built to deliver on that promise – not only can it’s quickly integrated into existing workflows at any stage of development, but additionally it is fully customizable and extensible to match a designer's vision.”
The company, which has been operating in stealth mode for a yr, is developing the engine in close collaboration with several well-known triple-A studios and expects it to be generally available to many studios in 2025.
“While plenty of energy and focus has been dedicated to leveraging immediate AI opportunities in game development, corresponding to generating graphics, dialogue or 3D models, these have been incremental improvements to the technology stack. We were in search of a team that would create a brand new category in gaming and are excited to partner with Brian, Alex, Mike and Andrew to assist them realize their vision,” said Daniel Mulet of Radical Ventures, who has joined the board, in a press release. “Artificial Agency's generative behavior engine guarantees recent opportunities for studios reinventing the gaming experience.”
The money got here from Radical Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Flying Fish, Kaya, BDC Deep Tech, TIRTA Ventures and others.
Based in Edmonton, Canada, a worldwide center for AI and gaming innovation, Artificial Agency brings together world-class AI researchers from Google Deepmind with engineers and game developers from elite AAA studios, all dedicated to shaping the long run of the gaming experience.
“Artificial Agency is led by my former students and colleagues – people I do know well,” said Richard Sutton, Professor of Computer Science on the University of Alberta and former Distinguished Scientist at Google DeepMind. “They are the world's best at using reinforcement learning and foundational models to create complex, lifelike and goal-oriented agents.” Professor Sutton and Professor Michael Bowling (University of Alberta, Department of Computing Science), each world-renowned pioneers of reinforcement learning, are angel investors in Artificial Agency.
“Alberta's technology sector continues to grow by leaps and bounds,” said Nate Glubish, Minister of Technology and Innovation. “The investments we've made within the region have helped train and hire so many good AI professionals in Alberta, and we're excited to see the industry take note and expand its operations here. Companies like Artificial Agency are on the forefront of this exciting progress, and I stay up for seeing what the Artificial Agency team will accomplish with this funding.”
“Edmonton continues to guide in technological development and innovation in artificial intelligence,” said Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi in a press release. “Artificial Agency is one other welcome addition to our technology ecosystem that’s making a worldwide splash, and I stay up for seeing their success.”
The co-founders have an AI background. Tanner has a master's and nearly a PhD in reinforcement learning. He was previously a research engineer at DeepMind. Alex Kearney is a co-founder and scientist in applied reinforcement learning. He was previously a research scientist at DeepMind.
Johanson is a game theorist and reinforcement learning scientist. He helped evolve poker AI from amateur to superhuman skills and was a part of the team that solved heads-up limit hold'em. Previously, he was a principal scientist at DeepMind, working on AI and agent-human interaction. And Andrew Butcher, co-founder and machine learning wizard and game developer. He studied neuroscience and computer science and worked with BioWare on games corresponding to Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Anthem. Previously, he was a research engineer at DeepMind.
