Inworld AI, a developer of artificial intelligence-powered avatars, has secured $50 million in fundraising to create artificial intelligence-powered avatars in video games and metaspace.
Inworld AI recently disclosed details of the $50 million fund the team received in March 2022. The company has also hired special effects and entertainment pioneer John Gaeta as its chief creative officer. The team’s goal is to increase the number of smarter computer-controlled characters so players can have more extended conversations with them, making the social world more immersive.
The company’s pioneers, Ilya Gelfenbeyn, Michael Ermolenko and Kylan Gibbs, raised the money to help import more non-player characters into games, metadata, entertainment and brand experiences to create a more prosperous social environment.
Participants of the Funding Round
The funding round was led by Section 32 and Intel Capital, with other investment angels including Founders Fund, Accelerator Capital, First Spark Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Bitkraft Ventures, CRV, Microsoft’s M12 Fund, Micron Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, SK Telecom Ventures, and Venture Reality Fund.
Ilya Gelfenbeyn, CEO of Inworld, commented.
“Over the past year, research has shown that online relationships can be just as meaningful as those formed in real life. With Inworld, you can create game NPCs (non-game characters), native populations of virtual worlds, virtual influencers, brand representatives, in-world guides, and digital humans who can build relationships with users and unlock deeper engagement. This is the future of entertainment – telling stories through characters with rich inner worlds that invite audience participation and take immersion to new levels”.
This innovation will eliminate the repetitive verses that appear in most in-game AI. Inworld AI uses approximately 20 machine learning models responsible for all aspects of a character’s personality. These AI-powered characters are synonymous with the NPCs in Ryan Reynolds’ meta-movie “Free People”. The team has partnered with MetaHuman and other incarnation builders to create these characters. Finally, the company is working with a number of AAA game studios and hopes to start some game projects this year or next.
