This afternoon as I was driving I suddenly had a "vision" of the future of technology. Now, obviously, it wasn't a vision vision, in the prophesying sense. But it was one that I honestly have to say I believe is very likely to happen. I'm sure this is a prediction that has been given before. Heck, maybe I even read someone's similar prediction a while back, but don't remember reading, only remembering the details and assuming I came up with them.
Anyway, I was thinking about the future of video games and wondering what the next huge leap will be. Now, obviously there are many possibilities. More in-depth Kinect/motion interaction. Better graphics. More diverse and immense stories. But I started thinking, of all things, about voice interaction. With the latest developments with "Project Milo" and its fair use of voice interaction, and more minor things like the Nintendo DS's microphone that requires you to make noises or blow into for certain games, I have to wonder, is this something we're going to be seeing a lot more of as developments in technology progress?
Now, what am I specifically thinking about here? Well, I'm not merely thinking about voice interaction as an end in itself. It's more like voice interaction that is dependent on the artificial intelligence within video games. Again, with things like Microsoft's Xbox 360 it is becoming quite clear that with each new system, boundaries are being breached. As video game consoles become capable of handling more and more information, the possibilities become more and more numerous. So... imagine a game like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, arguably one of the most 'open world'/'endless possibilities' video games ever developed to this date (though probably soon to be succeeded by Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim). But take that open world/potential environment, and instead focus it into the video game's characters.
Okay, now let me bring together what I'm setting up here. In future video game consoles, speech recognition/voice interaction becomes a huge part. Suddenly you are more immersed in the stories of the video games than ever before. You have to literally act as your character. Now, at first I'm sure we'll start out with games with multiple choice dialogue, you pick which one you want and then actually have to say it yourself (instead of just selecting it via the controller). But imagine this idea of the AI, melded with the 'open world'/'endless possibility' concept that Oblivion is helping us to realize. AI characters in the video game that have been programmed so efficiently and so well that they will respond to pretty much anything you audibly say. Sure, maybe some limitations. Like, say you're playing a future version of Dragon Age, and you say to one of the characters "I want a Coca-cola." to which they would reply something like "What is that?" or "What are you talking about?". But heck, what if the game was programmed so well that it could even have them say "What is 'Coca-cola'? I'm not familiar with that." To which, perhaps, you could even explain to them what it is and they would reply by saying something like "Sounds interesting."
But do you see what I mean, though? Pretty much life-like artificial intelligence in video games. Hold life-like conversation with the game's characters, not being restricted to "on-rails" dialogue, as it were. With voice actors for the characters recording so much dialogue that they could respond to pretty much anything you say. See, to me, that sounds like probably the coolest thing ever in the future of video games. That would bring such a new level of immersion to video gameplay.
But again, it is entirely dependent on the development and perfecting of speech recognition technologies—which things like the Dragon software seem to be demonstrating is truly being perfected—and video game consoles and game/cartridges with the capacity to house all that memory and intelligence. Plus, of course, voice actors who are willing to spend weeks and months recording endless dialogue to the endless possible things you, the player, could say.
It actually gives me chills just thinking about how awesome it would be.
But..... as a semi-rabbit trail... I also predict the kind of sick things we would probably see as a result of this. I can just see it now. Because the characters in the game are so life-like, Players become attached and even obsessed with them because they start to view them as real life people/friends. They end up forsaking their real lives for a fake one. Heck, look what happened with World of Warcraft, even without things like life-like AI and speech recognition/voice interaction! And then of course you have to have the obligatory occurences of mentally unorthodox people who end up developing very unhealthy relationships with certain of these life-like characters and end up getting "married" to them. C'mon, you have to admit... It totally would happen. Similar and weirder marriages have occurred.
Anyway, my "vision of the future" even took this whole thing a step ahead. Suddenly I had this idea in my head: Video game developers will ultimately be what sparks the development of real life Artificial Intelligence..... Robots/Androids will become realized in a way more akin to how we see them in the average Sci-Fi flick. By the way, this is the reason why I included the above picture of the Japanese robot woman. Because, obviously, we are already close to realizing this prediction. But I'm just thinking that, if what I'm predicting about video games ends up being true, I just think that we will then see the development of more life-like robots. At least as far as dialogue interaction. Getting the robots to actually move and physically behave like humans is another matter. But perhaps this will see computers, phones, and, heck, cars, with an almost life-like artificial intelligence that you can have conversations with while on the way to work, or typing up something on your computer, or perhaps AI built into your house that will be connected to various (or all) technologies in the house. Lights, air conditioner/heaters, kitchen appliances, televisions, and so on. Similar to JARVIS in Iron Man.
It's a pretty crazy thought. But I honestly have to say that, with all the developments we're making in technology with each decade that passes... all this is seeming more and more possible to me. Of course, at first, things with this life-like AI will cost so much only Donald Trump will be able to afford it. But, eventually, just like Blu-rays and DVDs with VHS tapes, etc., it will start to become the norm, and before long it will be affordable and everyone will have it.
But then, once again, you're probably going to have the obligatory mentally unorthodox person who ends up marrying one of these life-like robots/androids or car/house AI systems. I'm sure someone's already done it with a robot even in their limited development in this era.
So... That's my future prediction. My 'vision of the future'. Five years ago I would probably have said "No. Never." But in just five years, we seen such vast technological developments... I honestly can't say "Never" anymore. And I really do have a feeling that if anyone is going to introduce us to life-like AI that we can interact with, it's going to be the video game industry.
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