Neal Stephenson, Nate Mitchell, Kiri Hart and John Gaeta will judge applicants for Inworld’s AI Character Grants

Inworld AI has announced that Neal Stephenson, Nate Mitchell, Kiri Hart and John Gaeta will be on the panel of judges that decide who will receive an Inworld AI Character Grant.

The AI Character Grants award up to $1,000,000 USD (£838,720 GBP) to developers experimenting with AI technology in the pursuit of developing new inventive, creative and immersive experiences. Projects will also receive $50,000 (£42,000 GBP) to integrate Inworld tech into games and immersive experiences.

Inworld’s tech uses artificial intelligence to generate characters who mimic human interaction, hoping to better portray personalities, thoughts, memories, and behaviours in interactive media. Inworld characters can carry on unscripted conversations, pursue objectives, express emotions, react to stimuli and even remember and refer to lore and brand knowledge they have been exposed to.

Neal Stephenson is of course famous for writing the novel Snowcrash, and for inventing the word ‘metaverse’, while Nate Mitchell is currently Mountaintop Studios CEO, and was co-founder of Oculus. Kiri Hart is a film producer, and used to be an executive at LucasFilm. John Gaeta is Inworld’s current chief creative officer. 

“We’re excited to see Inworld characters unlock new experiences in gaming, entertainment, and the enterprise,” said Kylan Gibbs, Inworld co-founder and chief product officer. “The creative possibilities of generative AI are endless, so we welcome applications that push the boundaries of storytelling and interactive entertainment. For us, the more innovative and experimental, the better.”

“This is a chance to be at the forefront of an emerging artform, and create something the world has not yet experienced. These grants can be obtained by any creator or company, known or unknown, that are able to propose a unique, compelling, innovative or smart concept, approach or new application.” added Gaeta. “More than just persona creation, an AI character can influence the expressiveness, behavior, performance, motives and actions of virtual characters. The possibilities are endless. So, we are challenging people to lean in, take some risks, and have fun doing that.”

Inworld themselves recently received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games. They also joined the Disney Accelerator programme earlier this year.