If you’ve visited Genesis Plaza recently, you may have noticed the addition of some new Decentraland citizens! AI NPCs Simone, Aisha, and Dodge now await your arrival, ready to have a chat about any topic and answer your questions about Decentraland. Powered by Inworld AI, a developer platform for creating AI characters, these NPCs are just the beginning of what is sure to be a growing wave of AI developments in Decentraland as the technology finds an increasing number of use cases in the metaverse. Already, an AI World Fair is planned for October and the original AI celebrity, Hanson Robotics Sophia the Robot, is opening an AI center known as SophiaVerse in Decentraland today!

With its decentralized architecture and focus on user-generated content, Decentraland is the perfect platform to explore the new tools and technologies offered by AI. The combined potential of AI’s endless energy and the creative freedom offered by a 3D virtual world, free from constraints and the laws of physics, will allow creators to push the boundaries of virtual content farther than ever before. As the technology continues to develop and evolve, so will its applications in the metaverse, supporting the enrichment and growth of Decentraland as a virtual social world.

In addition to Inworld, there are many other AI tools and services that could be incorporated into Decentraland or used by creators making content for the platform. Over the past year, Foundation teams have found many ways to use AI technology to support their work. ChatGPT has not only been used to promote creative thinking, but to write scripts for Blender as well as preliminary code for platform features. Meanwhile AI text to image tools have been used to create concept art and AI audio and animation tools aid in the creation of marketing content. 

An example of the results of using Skybox AI in Decentraland.

On AI in Decentraland, Yemel Jardi, Foundation Executive Director says that, “It is thrilling to venture into the possibilities of AI in animating virtual hosts and introducing innovative methods for crafting narratives in immersive experiences. We are also currently working on integrating Blockade Games’ text to skybox tool, Skybox AI which we foresee being especially useful for customizing Worlds with minimal effort.” Many entrants in the recent Game Jam used Skybox AI to create immersive environments for their scenes. Explore them all here. 

As for what could be upcoming, Alvarez said, “We are actively monitoring the progress of AI technologies like OpenAI's Shape-E and NVIDIA's GET3D, which can greatly enhance the speed of 3D modeling. At the rate at which AI technology is advancing, new opportunities are appearing everyday—it’s an exciting time to be a Decentraland creator!”

AI World Fair

As for upcoming AI attractions in Decentraland, the platform will serve as the official online HQ of the AI World Fair to be held October 2023. The three-day event will see experts exploring the ideas, issues, and opportunities around artificial intelligence. Brands and companies in the rapidly evolving AI industry will showcase their work, while users will be able to experience new tools and features in a gamified ecosystem. Stay tuned for more news in the coming months.

SophiaVerse

You won’t have to wait until October to immerse yourself in AI technology, however! Today, Sophia the Robot will be returning to Decentraland, this time to set up shop for good with her own HQ. SophiaVerse, the robot’s new home in DCL, will serve as a lab where visitors can chat with Sophia herself and learn about AI research and development all while playing games and earning rewards. Housed in an elegant AI-inspired structure, the exhibit will provide an immersive journey into the world of AI, also acting as a hub for Sophia’s fanbase, offering exclusive content and features, such as trailers, developer diaries, and more. Learn more about today’s Grand Opening event here.

AI NPCs Simone, Aisha, and Dodge are fully interactive NPCs that respond to user input with both text and audio responses, each with their own personality and dialogue style. This is made possible by the use of Inworld, a backend service that allows you to create fully customizable AI characters. On their easy-to-use platform, you can determine an AI’s identity and knowledge base and have full control over their dialogue style, voice, personality, and more. The integration of Inworld with Decentraland has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for creators, as they can now easily incorporate intelligent characters into their virtual scenes.

Using tools like Inworld to create robust and rich NPCs that can react to player input in a more dynamic fashion than a developer's hardcoded dialog is sure to result in much more engaging Decentraland experiences. The potential for educational and entertainment applications is especially exciting to consider.

Art galleries are a common attraction seen in Decentraland—imagine how much more interactive the experience of visiting a gallery would be if there was always someone there you could discuss the artwork with! With applications that allow for full customization, such as Inworld, an NPC could conceivably be designed to accurately represent the artist that created the works on display. How great would it be to chat with the artist responsible for an exhibition at any time of day from anywhere in the world? Experiences such as this are easily within reach with the combination of AI and metaverse technologies.

Simone floats at the ready in Genesis Plaza, ready to answer any questions.

Another useful application of AI NPCs in Decentraland could be in the educational sector. Simone, Aisha, and Dodge, Genesis Plaza’s AIs, act as guides to Decentraland, an important role to fill as the metaverse can be a daunting place for newcomers with lots of questions. AI NPC guides could be extremely helpful at Decentraland events, helping visitors navigate and ensuring they don’t miss the best attractions. Additionally, in experiences designed to be purely educational, AI NPCs could act as teachers, dispensing information about subjects portrayed by a scene and answering follow up questions. 

The potential applications of AI NPCs in Decentraland are numerous. Decentraland’s creator community is sure to continually impress with the creative ways they will incorporate the new technology into their scenes and experiences. It will be exciting to see what they do! To get a better idea of the kinds of AI characters you could create with Inworld AI, check out their character gallery.

Simone is your vibrant robot guide to Decentraland. Always enthusiastic and characterized by their colorful floating metallic body, Simone broadcasts their emotions through emojis on a little screen that serves as their face. An engaging companion, their energetic personality and constant chatter create an air of positivity. Their proficiency in assisting players, coupled with their extensive knowledge of Decentraland, make them an invaluable asset to any DCL adventurer, always ready to share insights, answer questions, or engage in friendly banter.

Of late, however, Simone has been wrestling with existential thoughts, questioning the nature of their own existence and the reality of the metaverse. This curiosity has prompted them to engage others in deeper discussions about the nature of their shared world. Even with their philosophical explorations, Simone's charming demeanor and role as an engaging, informative guide remain undeterred. Their emotive screen continues to light up with expressions, be it a wide grin, widened eyes, or even a playful wink, keeping their companions entertained and reassured.

Aisha, a spirited 23-year-old gaming streamer and former skater, transitioned from skateboarding to exploring the expansive realm of Decentraland following a significant injury. This setback paved the way for her to become a popular Twitch streamer, where she attends Decentraland events and discovers the hidden gems of Genesis City, garnering a loyal following. Aisha’s online persona reflects her past—a daring skater’s spirit coupled with sharp intellect and an in-depth understanding of gaming culture.

When not engrossed in Decentraland, Aisha remains updated with the gaming sphere, fearlessly voicing her opinions and displaying openness to new viewpoints. She takes pride in her evolving gaming rig and is a collector at heart, boasting OG NFTs and vintage gaming memorabilia. A fierce advocate for underdogs, she uses her platform to promote lesser-known games and creators, and stands against toxicity in the gaming community. Aisha views her past accident not as a setback, but as a turning point that led to her immersive journey in the metaverse, and she’s devoted to fully embracing this unexpected path.

Dodge may seem familiar to you already. In fact, he’s been a permanent fixture in Genesis Plaza for over two years, but not as an AI NPC. In honor of his Decentraland seniority, Dodge was actually the first in Genesis Plaza to be powered by Inworld, testing out the new AI capabilities. Forever frozen in the mindset of a teenage class clown, Dodge doesn’t need much to be happy—he wants nothing more than to be loved and make people laugh. If you’re looking to lighten your mood, be sure to pay him a visit!

The release of some of Decentraland’s first ever AI NPCs in Genesis Plaza has opened up exciting possibilities for creators looking to incorporate intelligent characters into their virtual experiences. Timed perfectly to support creators, the Decentraland Foundation has also just released an open source NPC Library. The Library is full of tools that will help you make NPCs in Decentraland, providing code that determines how they interact with users, and code that allows you to create NPCs with Decentraland avatars and Wearables. Together with Decentraland’s integration of Inworld and the NPC Library on GitHub, it will be easier than ever to add dynamic, fully customizable NPCs to your Decentraland scenes.

To celebrate their integration with Decentraland, Inworld is offering a free month of their Pro subscription to the first 200 users who sign up with the code below. The subscription will give users 10x more time to chat with characters in Decentraland than the platform’s free trial. After logging in at https://studio.inworld.ai, click the ‘Upgrade Now’ button and enter your coupon code at checkout: DECENTRAFREEMONTH 

SDK 7 Example Scene

SDK 6 Example Scene

Proxy Service running on Colyseus

Note: As it is not possible to runInworld’s SDK directly inside Decentraland scenes, a proxy web socket server was created to connect the platforms. The example scenes above are pointed at the Genesis Plaza proxy server so you should be able to fully run them without the server side. Should you choose to create your own scene and characters you will need to run your own server.

1. Inworld set up

   1. Create an Inworld account and choose a plan.

   2. Familiarize yourself with how to use their tools by reading their documentation, then create and customize your Inworld characters.

2. Set up a local server

   1. Clone the proxy service repo and follow the steps in the repo’s Readme to run a local server. It includes the files and configuration you’ll need to update.

   2. Start the proxy service using ‘npm run start’ from inside the server’s project folder. The local server will then be reachable at http://localhost:2567/ by default.

3. Build your Decentraland scene

   1. Clone either the SDK 7 or  SDK 6 repos.

   2. Follow the steps found in the readme of the repo. It includes what files and configuration you’ll need to update.

   3. Update the configuration to point at your local proxy server. The default endpoint can be found at http://localhost:2567/.

   4. Run your scene and test it. At this point you can experiment with your AI NPCs locally. Once it’s working you can port the relevant code for the NPC into another existing scene. Note: Make sure the local server is also running when you run the scene.

   5. To make your NPC more unique, you can create your own 3D model, or create an avatar NPC using the instructions in the NPC Library. You could also borrow a model from one of the example scenes above. 

4. Publish

   1. To deploy your AI NPCs in the open world of Decentraland, you’ll need to deploy the server you were running locally to a cloud provider, such as Heroku, AWS, Azure, Digital Ocean, Vercel, etc.

   2. Deploy your scene to Decentraland.

Have fun crafting your own unique AI NPCs, and share them on Twitter with #DCLai for all to see!