Artificial agency – an AI startup focused on generative behavior for games – has emerged from stealth mode with a $16 million funding round led by Radical Ventures, Toyota Ventures and other notable investors.
The company, founded by former Google DeepMind researchers and AAA gaming industry veterans, aims to revolutionize game development with its AI-powered behavior engine, designed to seamlessly integrate runtime decision-making into various aspects of games.
The Edmonton startup plans to use the funding to accelerate development of its flagship product. The behavior engine promises to enable game developers to create more immersive and dynamic gaming experiences by integrating AI-driven decision-making capabilities into characters, environments and game systems.
Brian Tanner, Co-Founder and CEO of Artificial Agency, said: “AI has huge potential to revolutionize gaming, but so far the focus has been on very limited conversations between humans and AI.
“The real opportunity lies in unleashing generative behavior across entire worlds and giving developers the tools to transform both characters and other decision-making systems into individualized AI agents with perceptions, actions, personalities, and goals. This opens the door to entirely new categories of games that are more creative, more expressive, and deeply individualized.”
The company’s behavior engine is designed to be versatile, allowing developers to integrate AI into a variety of game mechanics. This includes adding minor improvisations to scripted interactions, enabling full improvisation for emergent gameplay, creating artificial players, and even implementing high-level gamekeeper systems that control pacing and guide players to unexplored game elements.
Mike Johanson, Co-Founder of Artificial Agency, commented: “We wanted to unleash the creative superpowers of studios of all sizes through our technology, enabling them to increase their productivity and make their wildest creative dreams a reality.
“Our engine was purpose-built to deliver on this promise: not only can it be quickly deployed into existing workflows at any stage of development, but it is also fully customizable and extensible to align with a designer’s vision.”
The startup has been operating in stealth mode for the past year, collaborating with several AAA studios to refine its technology. The behavior engine is expected to be widely available to game studios in 2025.
Daniel Mulet of Radical Ventures, who has joined Artificial Agency’s board, said: “While there has been a lot of energy and focus on exploiting the immediate opportunities of AI in game development – such as generating art, dialogue or 3D models – these are incremental improvements to the technology stack.
“We were looking for a team that could create a new category in gaming and we are excited to partner with Brian, Alex, Mike and Andrew to help them realize their vision.”
Artificial Agency’s founding team brings together expertise from AI research and the gaming industry. The company has garnered support from prominent figures in the field, including Richard Sutton and Michael Bowling, renowned professors of computer science at the University of Alberta and pioneers of reinforcement learning.
The startup’s emergence was welcomed by local government officials, including Nate Glubish, Minister of Technology and Innovation, and Amarjeet Sohi, Mayor of Edmonton, expressing their support for Alberta’s growing AI and technology sector.
As Artificial Agency moves forward with its ambitious plans, the gaming industry will be watching to see how this new AI-powered behavior engine could reshape the future of game development and player experiences.
(Image credit: Artificial agency)
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