Today, Inworld AI announced it has received a new round of funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners and big corporations like Microsoft (through its M12 fund), Samsung Next, and LG (through Technology Ventures). Even Stanford University and Eric Schmidt’s First Spark Ventures participated in this investment round. In previous rounds, other big companies and investment funds like Section 32, Intel Capital, Founders Fund, the Disney Accelerator, BITKRAFT Ventures, The Venture Reality Fund, Kleiner Perkins, CRV, Meta, Micron Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures, and SK Telecom Venture Capital had pitched in.
The amount raised with today’s announcement brings the total investment received by Inworld AI to over $100 million, while the company’s valuation now exceeds $500 million, making it the most funded startup dedicated to AI and gaming. This includes an Epic MegaGrant received last October.
There are some big names on board as advisors, too, including Google’s VP of AI Danny Lange and award-winning writer Neal Stephenson, who famously coined the term Metaverse in his novel Snow Crash.
Ilya Gelfenbeyn, CEO and co-founder of Inworld AI, said in a statement:
The next generation of games will be judged by how immersive the experiences feel. The Inworld Character Engine offers a transformational shift that brings characters to life with realistic emotions and dialogue, adding richness to the stories and worlds they occupy. Populating experiences with characters that behave with convincing real-time responses and actions will play a substantial role in getting us to the promise of truly interactive entertainment.
John Gaeta, Academy Award winner for best visual effects in The Matrix and Chief Creative Officer at Inworld AI, added:
AI-driven characters are new magic. They will power a paradigm shift (a form of renaissance) in storytelling, and escapism, where the audience can transcend the role of passive viewer to active participant. This type of interactive media will open up new avenues of creative expression, with narratives guided by the collective imagination of creators and the audience. Creatives will invent, spark, improvise, and guide these persistent role players, personas, relationships, scenarios, and dynamic worlds.
Inworld AI’s character engine is also going open source, the company revealed today, which should allow even more developers and creators to tweak the generative AI model.
We first covered Inworld on Wccftech when modder Bloc integrated its technology into Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord, and I took the chance to interview him about the process. Later, he crafted an impressive Skyrim mod with Inworld AI, and he has now released a Grand Theft Auto V mod, too.
For now, NetEase Games is leading the charge through its internal studio Team Miaozi when it comes to actual game implementations. Miaozi is adding Inworld AI to its top-down action/shooter/base building/roleplaying game Cygnus Enterprises, which launched late last year on Steam Early Access.
It’s not hard to see how generative AI could be utterly disruptive when it comes to infusing life into non-player characters (NPCs), though. It’s likely even big developers will implement similar technologies in the wave of games coming in the next five years or so, greatly expanding the potential longevity of their titles.
