The AI push of Microsoft is now reaching over to its Xbox division too. Today, the company announced a new generative AI model named Muse, and it's touted as a breakthrough for game developers. Microsoft is saying it's the first World and Human Action Model (WHAM) out in the wild, and it is slated to help studios quickly bring ideas to life using AI.
"What’s groundbreaking about Muse is its detailed understanding of the 3D game world, including game physics and how the game reacts to players’ controller actions," said Fatima Kardar, Corporate Vice President of the AI Infrastructure division of Microsoft. "This allows the model to create consistent and diverse gameplay rendered by AI, demonstrating a major step toward generative AI models that can empower game creators."
Microsoft has worked with Ninja Theory to iterate on this new model, using the studio's old multiplayer game Bleeding Edge as the testbed. Using data gathered from human gameplay, Muse is currently able to generate virtual gameplay resembling the original title, down to the maps, unique characters, and special movement abilities. The output resolution is extremely tiny at the moment, seen above, and it runs at about 10FPS, though this is only the start of the program, according to Microsoft.
"Although it’s still early, this model research is pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible," adds Kardar. "We are already using Muse to develop a real-time playable AI model trained on other first-party games, and we see potential for this work to one day benefit both players and game creators."
Microsoft and Xbox are also looking at this from a game preservation angle, someday letting players generate and experience classic titles with modernized elements without having to rely on backward compatibility support on modern hardware. Getting to that stage is probably years away though.
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