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**NCsoft Aims to Reinforce AI Market Presence Through Development of Digital Humans and In-house Large Language Model **
South Korean gaming company NCsoft (NC) has announced plans to boost its presence in the AI market, focusing on the development of “digital humans” through the use of its own large language model (LLM). The company has a long-standing commitment to AI research and development, having established its own AI organization years ago. The current focus on digital humans, essentially virtual entities designed to mimic human form, movement, and voice, is a reflection of a broader industry trend.
CRO Jehee Lee, a former professor specializing in computer graphics and animation, is leading the AI research and development at NC. He envisions creating a digital human that can interact as naturally as a real person. His research includes physics-based motion control, data-based motion learning and creation, and realistic human body modeling. The company’s CEO, Kim Taek-jin, has already described the gaming industry as a space that generates ‘digital actors’ and sees digital human-related technologies as future growth engines.
The company has showcased some of its research in creating digital humans, with notable examples being ‘Digital Kim Taek-jin,’ a digital representation of CEO Kim Taek-jin, and ‘Project M’, an action-adventure game currently under development with interactive elements. To create these, they utilized technologies such as ‘TTS’, an AI voice synthesis, and ‘Voice to Face’, which automatically creates facial animations appropriate for the situation.
NCsoft plans to release several versions of its language model, ranging from 1.5 billion parameters to 175 billion parameters, over the year. The aim is to develop a model that is better suited to gaming applications than general-purpose LLMs like OpenAI’s GPT and Google’s PaLM. This language model serves as the ‘brain’ of the digital human.
Apart from gaming, NCsoft’s AI technology is expected to find applications in diverse fields such as stock and bitcoin trading, as well as in-vehicle infotainment. The company has signed a business agreement with Yonhap News and Dream Ace to develop an ‘AI news solution for vehicles’.
https://www.ajunews.com/view/20230717114632058
https://www.ajunews.com/view/20230717114632058