Electronic Arts says artificial intelligence will make game characters much more lifelike

Electronic Arts is researching ways to use AI to make its characters move in more believable ways. There's always that moment in every video game when the character does something you didn't expect and breaks the immersion. Maybe a bad guy you just shot falls to the ground with arms flailing like a rag doll. Electronic Arts is among the companies hoping to turn to artificial intelligence to help fix that problem. The gaming giant plans to discuss its latest research at the Siggraph computer graphics conference this week, showing off new computer programs it built to make characters in sports games move in more realistic ways. The research video demonstration, called Neural Animation Layering for Synthesizing Martial Arts Movements, showed the results of AI programs that can make characters jump or punch in realistic ways.