Could AI powered companions work as a concept?

Mascen

I've wanted to ask this question for a while after seeing the video of that guy who hooked up Skyrim NPC's and companions to Chat GPT and the recent rise of AI chat apps. Does it seem like a good idea or not?

IMO while I dont think that ESO as it currently stands could support that kind of programming on the server, I do think that as a concept its the way of the future and offers the possibility for immersion far beyond what is available at the moment; arguably the future for the next generation of MMOs and RPGs. But what does everyone else think?

TaSheen

I think that I'm a little old to have a reasonable opinion. While I'm quite tech savvy, AI is actually nothing I thought would happen in my lifetime (I'll be 76 before too long).

So, mostly, I don't know....

Aislinna

Mascen wrote: »

I've wanted to ask this question for a while after seeing the video of that guy who hooked up Skyrim NPC's and companions to Chat GPT and the recent rise of AI chat apps. Does it seem like a good idea or not?

IMO while I dont think that ESO as it currently stands could support that kind of programming on the server, I do think that as a concept its the way of the future and offers the possibility for immersion far beyond what is available at the moment; arguably the future for the next generation of MMOs and RPGs. But what does everyone else think?

Player: Let's go this way to gather nodes
Companion: meh, I don't think so
Player: Come on, it'll be fun
Companion: No, we're going this way and doing something hard mode
Player: But I said...
Companion: Come or go, whatever, but I've disabled the unsummon button, you are at my mercy now *evil laugh*

Mascen

TaSheen wrote: »

I think that I'm a little old to have a reasonable opinion. While I'm quite tech savvy, AI is actually nothing I thought would happen in my lifetime (I'll be 76 before too long).

So, mostly, I don't know....

Nonsense, with age comes wisdom, and all opinions are valued here. Remember, automobiles and airplanes werent much in the early 1900s but within 20-30 years we went from horses and ocean liners to cars everywhere and Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. I hope you live another 20-30 years or so at the very least.

Mascen

Aislinna wrote: »

Mascen wrote: »

I've wanted to ask this question for a while after seeing the video of that guy who hooked up Skyrim NPC's and companions to Chat GPT and the recent rise of AI chat apps. Does it seem like a good idea or not?

IMO while I dont think that ESO as it currently stands could support that kind of programming on the server, I do think that as a concept its the way of the future and offers the possibility for immersion far beyond what is available at the moment; arguably the future for the next generation of MMOs and RPGs. But what does everyone else think?

Player: Let's go this way to gather nodes
Companion: meh, I don't think so
Player: Come on, it'll be fun
Companion: No, we're going this way and doing something hard mode
Player: But I said...
Companion: Come or go, whatever, but I've disabled the unsummon button, you are at my mercy now *evil laugh*

well im not quite sure that would be the case for every companion. Sharp-as-Night in particular seems to be a resource hoarder if anything and would probably ask you to harvest every node he sees.

phaneub17_ESO

The person who they assign to moderate the AI chatbots is going to need 100 baths and never get clean.

TaSheen

Mascen wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I think that I'm a little old to have a reasonable opinion. While I'm quite tech savvy, AI is actually nothing I thought would happen in my lifetime (I'll be 76 before too long).

So, mostly, I don't know....

Nonsense, with age comes wisdom, and all opinions are valued here. Remember, automobiles and airplanes werent much in the early 1900s but within 20-30 years we went from horses and ocean liners to cars everywhere and Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. I hope you live another 20-30 years or so at the very least.

Nice of you, thank you for the wish! Actually, considering my genes, I might likely live another 40 years: three of my grandparents were well over 100 when they died; my parents, caught up in WWII, died in their mid 80s. My PCP does tell me every year that I'm "so healthy it's disgusting", so there is that.

I suppose that I think things regarding AI should proceed slowly - at the pace of a walk, rather than a gallop. I have already had to deal with the total shift of research from libraries and physical books to the internet (not that that's a complaint - hell no! I LOVE being able to access so much knowledge online!) and the eruption of computer media into my SUV (I don't mess with it - when I drive I DRIVE, damn it.... and I never drive distracted).

But as with most new things, I do feel a measured process is better for many reasons. Mostly, I'm actually concerned that we won't have that measured process, because other "actors" in this sort of expansion are not interested in giving us time to do much of a slow ramp-up. (It's really hard to not get politics into stuff like this.... *sigh*)

[edit for typos]

Charon_on_Vacation

won't happen in eso, but in general?
yes, already working on it.

LalMirchi

AI powered companions as a concept, is an interesting idea but it's very doubtful if the games engine would handle this level of complexity, AFAIK most mobs, resource nodes and other assets are manually placed & manually pathed. Also companions performance in combat is rather inadequate atm.

However, where there is a will there's a way

PrincessOfThieves

I hope not. I find this creative AI thing creepy and dystopian.

TaSheen

Y'know.... as a "way out there" possibility.... there's a book I've had for years (and re-read frequently), Burning Bright by Melissa Scott, published in 1993.

It deals with a world where "the game" (an RPG of massive proportions) is played by people using AI to which their brains connect.

It's pretty interesting....

Mascen

TaSheen wrote: »

Mascen wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I think that I'm a little old to have a reasonable opinion. While I'm quite tech savvy, AI is actually nothing I thought would happen in my lifetime (I'll be 76 before too long).

So, mostly, I don't know....

Nonsense, with age comes wisdom, and all opinions are valued here. Remember, automobiles and airplanes werent much in the early 1900s but within 20-30 years we went from horses and ocean liners to cars everywhere and Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. I hope you live another 20-30 years or so at the very least.

Nice of you, thank you for the wish! Actually, considering my genes, I might likely live another 40 years: three of my grandparents were well over 100 when they died; my parents, caught up in WWII, died in their mid 80s. My PCP does tell me every year that I'm "so healthy it's disgusting", so there is that.

I suppose that I think things regarding AI should proceed slowly - at the pace of a walk, rather than a gallop. I have already had to deal with the total shift of research from libraries and physical books to the internet (not that that's a complaint - hell no! I LOVE being able to access so much knowledge online!) and the eruption of computer media into my SUV (I don't mess with it - when I drive I DRIVE, damn it.... and I never drive distracted).

But as with most new things, I do feel a measured process is better for many reasons. Mostly, I'm actually concerned that we won't have that measured process, because other "actors" in this sort of expansion are not interested in giving us time to do much of a slow ramp-up. (It's really hard to not get politics into stuff like this.... *sigh*)

[edit for typos]

Yeah hopefully you have better genetics than i do but it seems theres like a human limiter around 100-110 it seems.

Naturally yes i agree AI should be taken slowly and carefully but that being said i do believe there is room for ai who are little more than advanced chatbots with heavy restrictions. At its best, i could see it being highly immersive almost like a LARP or a session of D&D.

Currently speaking I dont believe the ESO engine or server could support something like that but hey, stranger things have happened.

TaSheen

Mascen wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Mascen wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I think that I'm a little old to have a reasonable opinion. While I'm quite tech savvy, AI is actually nothing I thought would happen in my lifetime (I'll be 76 before too long).

So, mostly, I don't know....

Nonsense, with age comes wisdom, and all opinions are valued here. Remember, automobiles and airplanes werent much in the early 1900s but within 20-30 years we went from horses and ocean liners to cars everywhere and Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. I hope you live another 20-30 years or so at the very least.

Nice of you, thank you for the wish! Actually, considering my genes, I might likely live another 40 years: three of my grandparents were well over 100 when they died; my parents, caught up in WWII, died in their mid 80s. My PCP does tell me every year that I'm "so healthy it's disgusting", so there is that.

I suppose that I think things regarding AI should proceed slowly - at the pace of a walk, rather than a gallop. I have already had to deal with the total shift of research from libraries and physical books to the internet (not that that's a complaint - hell no! I LOVE being able to access so much knowledge online!) and the eruption of computer media into my SUV (I don't mess with it - when I drive I DRIVE, damn it.... and I never drive distracted).

But as with most new things, I do feel a measured process is better for many reasons. Mostly, I'm actually concerned that we won't have that measured process, because other "actors" in this sort of expansion are not interested in giving us time to do much of a slow ramp-up. (It's really hard to not get politics into stuff like this.... *sigh*)

[edit for typos]

Yeah hopefully you have better genetics than i do but it seems theres like a human limiter around 100-110 it seems.

Naturally yes i agree AI should be taken slowly and carefully but that being said i do believe there is room for ai who are little more than advanced chatbots with heavy restrictions. At its best, i could see it being highly immersive almost like a LARP or a session of D&D.

Currently speaking I dont believe the ESO engine or server could support something like that but hey, stranger things have happened.

Yah, this game on this engine is not going to be able to go much further. Love the game, not sanguine about it's longevity at this point.

Beth, where IS TES VI, damn it!!! I need it before I get to the point I can't play games.... and oh goddesses, you have no idea how pissed I will be if it's only VR. Do you know what VR does to someone with vertigo? Of course you don't. Because it is NOT PRETTY.

xclassgaming

Please no. AI is pretty....not good.

Mascen

TaSheen wrote: »

Mascen wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Mascen wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I think that I'm a little old to have a reasonable opinion. While I'm quite tech savvy, AI is actually nothing I thought would happen in my lifetime (I'll be 76 before too long).

So, mostly, I don't know....

Nonsense, with age comes wisdom, and all opinions are valued here. Remember, automobiles and airplanes werent much in the early 1900s but within 20-30 years we went from horses and ocean liners to cars everywhere and Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. I hope you live another 20-30 years or so at the very least.

Nice of you, thank you for the wish! Actually, considering my genes, I might likely live another 40 years: three of my grandparents were well over 100 when they died; my parents, caught up in WWII, died in their mid 80s. My PCP does tell me every year that I'm "so healthy it's disgusting", so there is that.

I suppose that I think things regarding AI should proceed slowly - at the pace of a walk, rather than a gallop. I have already had to deal with the total shift of research from libraries and physical books to the internet (not that that's a complaint - hell no! I LOVE being able to access so much knowledge online!) and the eruption of computer media into my SUV (I don't mess with it - when I drive I DRIVE, damn it.... and I never drive distracted).

But as with most new things, I do feel a measured process is better for many reasons. Mostly, I'm actually concerned that we won't have that measured process, because other "actors" in this sort of expansion are not interested in giving us time to do much of a slow ramp-up. (It's really hard to not get politics into stuff like this.... *sigh*)

[edit for typos]

Yeah hopefully you have better genetics than i do but it seems theres like a human limiter around 100-110 it seems.

Naturally yes i agree AI should be taken slowly and carefully but that being said i do believe there is room for ai who are little more than advanced chatbots with heavy restrictions. At its best, i could see it being highly immersive almost like a LARP or a session of D&D.

Currently speaking I dont believe the ESO engine or server could support something like that but hey, stranger things have happened.

Yah, this game on this engine is not going to be able to go much further. Love the game, not sanguine about it's longevity at this point.

Beth, where IS TES VI, damn it!!! I need it before I get to the point I can't play games.... and oh goddesses, you have no idea how pissed I will be if it's only VR. Do you know what VR does to someone with vertigo? Of course you don't. Because it is NOT PRETTY.

I mean if world of warcraft is still kicking id imagine that ESO still has quite a few years left. We still have a slew of areas, daedric realms and other spaces left to adventure.

Freelancer_ESO

I think AI advancements will in the next few decades end up killing many multiplayer games due to cheating (I doubt we are that far off from AI being able to play games physically which would likely present a nightmare for anti-cheats).

I think you'll also find that many players will change games once AI developed content becomes more readily available as many of us are playing the game that is the best option that has content we haven't played to death not necessarily what we actually want to be playing.

My guess is in the long run we will end up with a bunch of relatively low budget games that have primarily AI produced content and a small number of incredibly high budget games that are basically part game part television show/movie.

I think we will also end up seeing Cloud Gaming take off.

TaSheen

Too true. I left WoW in early 2013, spent a couple years in RIFT, went back to Skyrim for the duration. Then I got SO TIRED of TES VI not getting any traction, so not-really-an-MMO-player-me landed here in ESO.

Lozeenge

AI technology is still in the experimental phase despite what some silicon valley nerds might convince you otherwise. strictly business-speaking, there's no practical need for it right now. definitely not for this game, at least.

rpa

Games like Chess and Go have been research models for AI and AI has been used in other games since there had been any NPC which can off scripted path to chase / evade / heckle player. That kind of basic stuff is not experimental at all. You do not need (or want to use) a deep neural network for a companion to find a path avoiding red or decide what to target and which ability to use in combat for example, because there are established algorithms for such problems (path finding and fuzzy decisions) which are much more efficient. It's about budget and what the game (or game engine) designer bothers to implement.

FayJolyn

IDK How I would feel about that. While AI is only getting more impressive, there is something to be said about the ethics of AI generated content...AI is very much in it's development stage and to me it looks just another gold rush like NFT's was 2 years ago. The lack of regulation has negatively impacted many artists (in)directly, and I dislike how many artists get shafted along the way. I distrust any tech-bro who is arguing on Twitter for democratization of art creation(or whatever dumb argument they come up with next week), while trying to bank of the work of actual artists.

I rather have a handcrafted story written by an actual writer, and acted out by a human voice actor. People who are able to put their talents on display to the best of their abilities. Artists are able to bring their experience and personal touch to their work in a way AI just cannot. AI in it's current form is just a grey blob of mashed labor of people that put in the actual work. It's just content, but not art.

Caligamy_ESO

TaSheen wrote: »

Mascen wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I think that I'm a little old to have a reasonable opinion. While I'm quite tech savvy, AI is actually nothing I thought would happen in my lifetime (I'll be 76 before too long).

So, mostly, I don't know....

Nonsense, with age comes wisdom, and all opinions are valued here. Remember, automobiles and airplanes werent much in the early 1900s but within 20-30 years we went from horses and ocean liners to cars everywhere and Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. I hope you live another 20-30 years or so at the very least.

Nice of you, thank you for the wish! Actually, considering my genes, I might likely live another 40 years: three of my grandparents were well over 100 when they died; my parents, caught up in WWII, died in their mid 80s. My PCP does tell me every year that I'm "so healthy it's disgusting", so there is that.

I suppose that I think things regarding AI should proceed slowly - at the pace of a walk, rather than a gallop. I have already had to deal with the total shift of research from libraries and physical books to the internet (not that that's a complaint - hell no! I LOVE being able to access so much knowledge online!) and the eruption of computer media into my SUV (I don't mess with it - when I drive I DRIVE, damn it.... and I never drive distracted).

But as with most new things, I do feel a measured process is better for many reasons. Mostly, I'm actually concerned that we won't have that measured process, because other "actors" in this sort of expansion are not interested in giving us time to do much of a slow ramp-up. (It's really hard to not get politics into stuff like this.... *sigh*)

[edit for typos]

Did you hear the one about the department of defense funding the merging of AI with dish-grown human brain cells that plays pong?



I wish I was joking

PrincessOfThieves

FayJolyn wrote: »

IDK How I would feel about that. While AI is only getting more impressive, there is something to be said about the ethics of AI generated content...AI is very much in it's development stage and to me it looks just another gold rush like NFT's was 2 years ago. The lack of regulation has negatively impacted many artists (in)directly, and I dislike how many artists get shafted along the way. I distrust any tech-bro who is arguing on Twitter for democratization of art creation(or whatever dumb argument they come up with next week), while trying to bank of the work of actual artists.

I rather have a handcrafted story written by an actual writer, and acted out by a human voice actor. People who are able to put their talents on display to the best of their abilities. Artists are able to bring their experience and personal touch to their work in a way AI just cannot. AI in it's current form is just a grey blob of mashed labor of people that put in the actual work. It's just content, but not art.

I agree, and there's another thing that makes me feel uneasy about this - the potential effects on people's minds.
Nowadays people are lonelier than ever and the rise of parasocial relationships on social media, and AI chatbots like Replica show it.
I might sound too radical, but the fact that AI developments focus so much on faking human communication and art is just creepy. I can see why it might seem neat at first, but imo people are just too eager to jump on the bandwagon.

Muizer

According to ChatGPT

ChatGPT has the potential to be used in various ways for creating non-player characters (NPCs) in video games, thanks to its natural language processing and generation capabilities. Here are some ways in which ChatGPT can be utilized in this context:

Dialogue and Interaction: ChatGPT can be used to generate realistic and dynamic dialogue for NPCs. Game developers can implement ChatGPT to allow NPCs to engage in meaningful conversations with players, offering a more immersive gaming experience.

Quest and Story Generation: ChatGPT can assist in generating quests, storylines, and narrative elements for video games. NPCs can provide players with quests and backstories, and ChatGPT can help create compelling and branching narratives based on player choices.

Dynamic AI Companions: In games that feature AI companions or teammates, ChatGPT can be employed to improve the AI's ability to understand and respond to player commands and requests, making the companions feel more lifelike and adaptable.

Natural Language Understanding: ChatGPT can enhance the natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities of NPCs. This allows them to better interpret player inputs and respond appropriately, making interactions with NPCs more intuitive and enjoyable.

Personalized Experiences: ChatGPT can analyze player behavior and preferences to tailor NPC interactions and storylines. This personalization can make the game world feel more responsive to individual players' choices and actions.

Game Mastering in Tabletop RPGs: Beyond video games, ChatGPT can be used as a virtual game master (GM) in tabletop role-playing games (RPGs). It can help create and manage the game world, characters, and storylines, providing a more dynamic and interactive experience for players.

Testing and Debugging: ChatGPT can be employed in game development for testing and debugging purposes. It can simulate player interactions with NPCs to identify potential issues or bugs in dialogue trees and AI behavior.

However, it's important to note that while ChatGPT has significant potential for enhancing NPC interactions in video games, there are challenges to address, including:

Performance and Resource Constraints: Implementing advanced AI like ChatGPT in real-time gaming environments may require optimization to ensure it doesn't strain system resources or cause lag.

Balancing Realism and Gameplay: Striking the right balance between realistic NPC interactions and gameplay objectives is essential to avoid overwhelming players with lengthy conversations.

Ethical Considerations: Developers must be mindful of the content generated by AI, as it may unintentionally produce offensive or inappropriate dialogue, which could harm the player experience.

Data and Training: The AI model's knowledge and training data may have limitations, potentially leading to inaccuracies or lack of domain-specific knowledge in certain contexts.

Overall, ChatGPT holds great potential for enhancing the NPC experience in video games, but its successful integration depends on careful design, optimization, and consideration of ethical and gameplay factors.

Personally I'm not sure how often I could stomach hearing Ember say : I apologize for the confusion ......

FayJolyn

PrincessOfThieves wrote: »

I agree, and there's another thing that makes me feel uneasy about this - the potential effects on people's minds.
Nowadays people are lonelier than ever and the rise of parasocial relationships on social media, and AI chatbots like Replica show it.
I might sound too radical, but the fact that AI developments focus so much on faking human communication and art is just creepy. I can see why it might seem neat at first, but imo people are just too eager to jump on the bandwagon.

Oh absolutely! We humans have an amazing ability to feel empathy for all sorts of things. We can see faces in inanimate objects because we as a species are evolved to make social connections. We're so good at it in fact that I personally feel we need to be a little bit more protective of this ability, because we too easily can project our feelings on all sort of things - like chatbots- and that can quickly go awry.



Also if everything would be AI voiced, we would no longer have forum threads full of praises and love for the work that the artists/devs/actors have created. We would lose another opportunity of social bonding for the sake of more generated content. How boring that would be!

Lastly I was on Twitter the other day and our very own Wes Jonhson is currently taking a stand against AI use of his voice. Listen, we like Wes right? If he and so many artists are ringing the alarm currently around the ethics of AI in it's current form, I think we should at least take that into consideration too.

edit: typos

Janni

The big issue with AI companions like this is that ChatBots are actually a very very small part of the whole process. Yes they are pretty decent at providing a facsimile of conversation but they have absolutely no context about anything that isn't sent to their prompt. So what this means is that for the AI to 'see' or 'hear' or have any sense at all the developers would have to model in all of those cues as well as a secondary AI that can track when they would be appropriate to comment on, mood and emotion simulations to decide *how* to comment on them, memory systems so that your AIs don't loose track of that thing they commented on every two minutes, and the list just goes on and on and on. This would obviously be an absolutely massive undertaking for what I personally feel would still come off a bit flat.

Like I'd rather just talk to a real person standing there next to me about how cool someone's house is and know that it's a real opinion and not just a bunch of simulations that get filtered and processed before finally being transformed into a small paragraph that gets sent off to a chatbot to make up a story that *hopefully* sounds coherent. I guess the only upshot would be that almost all of this could be done client side so it wouldn't necessarily tax the server but even then chatbots are pretty notrious right now for taking a very long time to generate a response (at least in terms of the rate at which humans talk naturally).

rpa

Triggering human emotional responses does not require state of art AI.One needs only a simple keyword-response loop to make people feel that they are communicating with someone who cares and supports them. Even when they do know they are talking with a chatbot.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect

Kirawolfe

TaSheen wrote: »

My PCP does tell me every year that I'm "so healthy it's disgusting", so there is that.

... man, I want my pcp to say that when I'm in my 70s.

I think the game would become a little unruly if you just let AI go in without boundaries of some kind. It's certainly going to lead to some unpredictable behavior, which I'm not sure the devs would appreciate.

You'd have some odd encounters, you'd have impressionable folks listening to everything an AI said and acting on it, you'd have folks dedicated to causing massive shenanigans, and in the worst scenarios, there might be the risk of litigation.

It would be interesting, though

ArchangelIsraphel

Could they work as a concept? Perhaps for someone. But the day this particular type of AI is introduced to companions, is the day I unsummon them for good.

You see, the thing is, I play videogames like ESO to immerse myself in a world full of creativity. I want to listen to stories, and for a few hours a day, walk in the shoes of my character, living in those stories. These are stories that other human beings wrote, which fuel my imagination and in turn encourage me to continue building upon my own stories.

The stories in ESO have actual human warmth and experience behind them, rather than the cold analytics of a machine that is only attempting to simulate humanity as it was programmed to do.

I do not understand the fixation other people have on wanting NPC's and companions to respond to them as if they are actual people. I do not want this, and have never wanted this. I like reading their stories, and appreciating the voice acting and feeling of companionship their individual personalities can evoke in the context of role playing my own character. But I do not need an AI sock puppeting a companion for me, manufacturing interactions, or taking control of the story.

I like using my own imagination to come up with what an interaction between my character and a companion might be like. Outside of the context of the story already provided by the game, weaving the tale of my character's friendship with a companion, the adventures they went on, what they spoke of, and what hardships they faced, is something I like to create for myself.

I don't need a machine to create that for me. I don't want a machine to create that for me. I don't crave "live" interaction with an NPC, nor do I find it in any way exciting.

I find being creative, and coming up with stories myself, exciting. I find being inspired by stories and characters other actual human beings made thought provoking. Running with those ideas, and using my own imagination to expand upon them, and get new ideas, is why I enjoy ESO so much.

Letting AI do the legwork for my imagination feels like allowing the game to play me, instead of playing the game.

Not only that, but I cannot find myself impressed by a character manufactured by a machine. There is no artistry to it, no thought behind it. Just a machine, doing what it was programmed to do. There is no human intelligence artfully crafting a personality, an appearance, bringing a person they spun out of thin air to life on the screen.

This is why I don't care whether or not AI can supposedly do art "better" than human beings (or so some people claim- I disagree, for many reasons. I find AI art shallow. I find everything AI does shallow.)

AI can merely replicate art. It cannot replace the soul behind it. I know how I feel when I create something, and I imagine that feeling, that spark of life, that magic is what the writers who create characters for ESO feel as well when they bring them into being.

There is a quote, from a childrens story called "The Little Prince" which I always end up thinking upon when I read anything concerning AI replacing actual human creativity:

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that
one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I have never, and will never, desire interaction with an artificial intelligence- but engaging in a story told by another living soul, a character created by their imagination? That is what I live for.

The companions may be limited in their story telling capacity due to the way they are programmed by the developers, but I would never in a million years desire the actual creative process to be taken out of the hands of a real, living, breathing writer and put into the hands of a machine that has less soul than a potato.

No thank you.

Cazador

Ai companions don't interest me. The problem with ai is that it can't really create something in the same way a person can, instead it takes something a person has created and uses that instead.

Also have you used one of these chatbots before? They have a serious problem with getting in endless loops, getting obsessed with specific words/phrases and not understanding clear prompts. I'm personally not that interested in AI powered Isobel deciding tomatoes are the world's most interesting thing and mentioning them in every sentence for an hour.
(Edit- typos)

hashii

I think it is possible in the future. Not sure about ESO, but for perhaps newer games.

However, rather than just making everything be bland, I think the future developers might write long scripts about the backstory of a companion's life, and what their personality was, and how it is right now. Based on their history, the AI could potentially be "boxed" within those bounds of back-story, so when a player interacts with them, they get diverse reactions/dialogues.

However, AI should be viewed as a tool only and not a replacement. So human input/human crafted dialogues should still take precedence. But AI dialogues based on back-story should be supplemental and intertwined with the human crafted dialogues, so that player interactions with companions feel diverse and fresh everytime, yet still grounded with a human touch, and not robotic.

Bobargus

I'd love to have a completely automated character and companion system that is powered by an automated ai system.

A system update that could give sentience and free will to the words and actions of our characters and companions, within the limitations of the game, or perhaps even without any limitations at all.

When you think about it, such a system like that could show what ai can do, when it is only limited by the game's limitations, and not by the limited imagination and capabilities of human players.