The first-ever all artificial intelligence reality TV show featuring only virtual contestants has just launched.
Non Player Combat, which launched on YouTube on Monday, is the first programme of its kind to be created entirely by AI, from the contestants to the environments, including the decisions the characters make.
The debut four-episode series is a hyper-realistic deadly tournament between six characters who are hunting each other – and avoiding threats from polar bears and venomous snakes – in a fight for survival. It is said to blend elements reminiscent of the film Hunger Games, video game Fortnite and the lying competition series The Traitors.
Each contestant has been programmed with its own very human backstory: past lovers, personal tragedies, favourite foods. And they will respond to the environment as humans would, including being vulnerable to illness and needing to eat, having been made using “advanced” AI technology and AiMation’s in-house tool, Omnigen-01.
Tom Paton, founder and CEO of AiMation Studios, says emotional investment is the key to the series: “None of it matters unless you care about the players. If the audience doesn’t connect with the characters, there’s no point.”
He added: “Everyone knows you can make Anime-inspired or live action films, and people will watch if the stories are good – but the exciting stuff lies in all the things you can’t do within traditional media.”
He said the show was developed for a younger audience who are “already ok with characters not being real”.
Paton added that “media has always diversified” across the years, adding “some people still swear vinyl sounds better, but that doesn’t mean Spotify shouldn’t exist.”
The tech director said: “The question is, do you actually care that it’s AI if you’re entertained? I doubt it, and that’s all that counts.
“Hollywood is in free fall, simple as that. Not quick to absorb paradigm shifts, which is why they’re only just trying to get in on YouTube.”
Non Player Combat was produced for about a tenth of the cost of traditional competition shows. The Traitors, for instance, costs around £1 million per episode.
The series launched on YouTube today (Monday, December 8), with the first and second episodes available on AiMation’s Freemium service. The next two episodes will be uploaded weekly.
