Are we moving towards an era where AI could be integrated into a mainstream videogame? The Guardian’s Keith Stuart attempts to answer that question, arguing that with “social AI” and “natural dialogue systems, we’re heading into an era where players could negotiate with computer-controlled characters, where persuasion, seduction and intrigue replace guns and aggression.” Game designer Aaron Reed, who was part of a team that developed a social simulation game Prom Week, is working with Mobius AI to provide game developers with a social AI engine. “As we start giving more control to social simulations, we can at first expect to see richer, more intriguing versions of the types of characters we have now,” he says, “shopkeepers who can carry on a more dynamic conversation, quest-givers or lore-spouters who can answer questions or respond to your specific circumstances, and so on. But as your system gets smarter and you’re willing to give it more control, it really starts suggesting entirely new genres of game that don’t yet exist.” However, the solutions are emerging, and UCSC PhD student James Ryan, who is working with the Expressive Intelligence Studio tells Stuart he is “absolutely” certain that mainstream video games could soon encompass characters with their own agendas and internal, unscripted lives.