Ubisoft Funds Artificial Intelligence Research Chair - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 16 March 2011 / 1,989 Views
Video game publisher Ubisoft Canada Inc. announced the creation of a research chair on artificial intelligence at the Université de Montréal on Tuesday. The new Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)-Ubisoft Industrial Chair of Learning Representations for Immersive Video Games, (whew, that's a mouthful) was established to promote research into new innovations and technologies from the video game world that could one day help develop artificial intelligence. In partnering with the NSERC, Ubisoft says it will invest $1 million dollars over the next five years to fund the new position.
By analyzing data on a player's behavior in-game, the goal is to make gaming an increasingly interactive experience. The machine is supposed to be able to "learn" from the player's data and modify the content of the game in real time to reflect the unique behavior of the player.
The first holder of position will be the Université de Montréal computer science professor Yoshua Bengio.
“Dr. Bengio is a world renowned leader in the field of machine learning,” said Suzanne Fortier, NSERC president. “This research program will help us maintain our technological edge in the multi-billion-dollar gaming industry, which holds a particularly large place in Canada’s economy, thanks in part to Ubisoft Montréal.”
“Today, players expect personalized experiences, adapted to their gaming style and level of experience,” said Yves Jacquier, executive director of Ubisoft Montréal’s Production services studio. “The combination of academic and practical knowledge will accelerate our efforts to develop high-level, interactive, dynamic and adaptable content.”
Though I personally fear we're on the track to the whole "Robots taking over the world" thing, this research could be very beneficial to gamers in creating a unique gaming environment catered to their own abilities. Kudos could be given to Ubisoft for supporting innovation.
Do you think of this research as positive or negative? Do you think it will have useful results outside of gaming?
