Runtime AI for Games: Leveling Up Player Experience in Real Time

This article distills the key insights from a Lightning Talk by Wendelin Reich.

On-device, real-time AI removes latency, lowers cost, and increases believability in ways cloud inference cannot match. The direct answer: the future of game AI is not about larger cloud models. It is about fast, emotionally responsive intelligence running where the player is.

Key takeaways:

• On-device AI eliminates latency, which directly improves believability and player immersion.
• Runtime inference lowers long-term cost and scales better than cloud-dependent systems.
• Fast, expressive character reactions matter more than large or complex models.
• Real-time AI strengthens retention and emotional connection through immediate feedback.

Who This Helps

• Game engineers building interactive AI characters or NPCs
• Technical directors focused on latency and real-time performance
• Game designers exploring procedural animation and emergent behavior
• Studio leaders seeking privacy-safe, scalable AI solutions
• R&D teams experimenting with edge AI and on-device intelligence
  

Why Real-Time AI Matters for Modern Game Studios

Believable gameplay depends on speed and responsiveness. When characters respond instantly to a player’s gaze, gestures, or actions, the experience feels authentic. Any delay, even a fraction of a second, breaks immersion.

Cloud-based AI, while powerful, adds latency and limits responsiveness. By running models locally, developers eliminate lag and deliver experiences that feel human in timing and feedback

Inside Virtual Beings’ Approach

Virtual Beings created KuteEngine™, a runtime AI framework that powers interactive characters capable of spontaneous behavior and procedural animation. Instead of scripting every motion, the system generates reactions dynamically using small model inference directly on the player’s device.

This allows each character to:

• React instantly to player actions
• Express emotion through adaptive animation
• Behave in ways consistent with its personality
• Produce variations that do not require preset animation cycles

The result is a sense of life that cannot be replicated through static loops or cloud-dependent systems.

The Problem with Cloud AI in Gameplay

Cloud AI brings unavoidable limitations for games that require instant response:

1. Latency: Round-trip communication disrupts flow and realism.
2. Cost: Server inference scales poorly with millions of players.
3. Privacy: Constant data streaming raises security and regulatory concerns.
4. Scalability: Cloud dependencies constrain concurrent sessions.

Real-time AI solves these issues by using the player’s device as both the runtime and inference engine, giving developers independence from centralized systems and reducing cost over time.

How Real-Time AI Enhances Player Experience

Real-time AI improves the moment-to-moment experience in ways players feel immediately.

Fast reactions enable:

• Instant eye contact
• Gesture-aligned motion
• Tone-aware responses
• Personalized behavior in milliseconds

These small signals create emotional believability. Players start to feel seen and understood by characters, which strengthens immersion and session engagement.

Building for Believability, Not Perfection

Developers often chase model sophistication when they should focus on emotional realism. Real-time AI emphasizes timing and feedback over complexity.

A character that responds quickly, even with simple logic, feels more authentic than one that delays with perfect reasoning. Designing for believability means prioritizing fast, expressive reactions over large model intelligence.

The Path Forward

Edge computing and device-level accelerators are making real-time AI practical. Developers can combine lightweight speech, vision, and gesture models to achieve responsive interaction without cloud infrastructure.

“Real-time AI is the next engine upgrade. It changes what feels possible on screen.”

Reich envisions future games where every character, creature, and environment element runs its own small AI loop, reacting instantly to player actions. This shift will redefine immersion and make games more personal, dynamic, and scalable.

Conclusion

Real-time AI moves character intelligence closer to the player, improving believability, reducing operational cost, and enabling more scalable, immersive experiences. For game studios, this shift offers both creative and strategic advantages.

About the Speaker

Wendelin Reich is the CEO and CTO of Virtual Beings, the Paris- and Delaware-based company he founded in 2016 to create believable, deeply interactive AI characters for games, brands, and the metaverse. With a background in social psychology and a fellowship in artificial behavior at Stanford University, he brings over a decade of experience in game AI, procedural animation, and Unity development. Under his leadership, Virtual Beings’ proprietary KuteEngine™powers immersive, interoperable AI characters showcased at GDC and AWE, redefining how players engage with AI-driven experiences.

Watch Full Talk

Runtime Al for Games: Leveling up player experience in real time