As smartphones become more powerful, so too are the AI ββcapabilities available to them for mobile games and applications. Qualcomm wants to secure its place at the forefront of mobile AI innovation, so the chipmaker has joined Tencent and Vivo on a new initiative called Project Imagination.
The companies announced their partnership during the Qualcomm AI Day 2019 conference in Shenzhen, China. According to , Project Imagination is created "to provide consumers with a highly intelligent, efficient and immersive experience and drive AI innovation on mobile devices." The first step in this direction will be associated with the new line of Vivo iQOO smartphones for gamers. They will use Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon 855 processor, which includes the 4th generation AI Engine to accelerate machine learning algorithms.
The game that the partner companies decided to use to test new AI technologies was Tencent's online multiplayer MOBA game Honor of Kings (known around the world as Arena of Valor). Tencent's AI Labs in Shenzhen and Seattle are also expected to contribute to this project.
In addition, Vivo plans to create an AI-powered esports team (i.e., a team made up of AI players, without the participation of real people) for mobile games called Supex. The company plans to develop its cyber team through games in the MOBA genre. In a press release, Vivo's general manager for creative innovation, Fred Wong, said that Supex will "ultimately deliver the ultimate experience in mobile esports."
In a recent interview with GamesBeat, Tencent Senior Vice President Steven Ma commented on how AI-based teams will be able to take on the top-tier players in esports on an equal footing. βWe are exploring how AI can be used to improve the gaming experience. For example, we ran an experiment in China where players could play against AI in Honor of Kings for a while. Everything went very well,β Ma said. - Even now, artificial intelligence can compete with some professional players. In addition, in addition to the desire and interests of the players, we are exploring the potential opportunities for developers to use AI in the development of new games.β
This is not the first time that Qualcomm and Tencent have worked together: they previously collaborated to open a Chinese research center for games and entertainment applications, and recent rumors suggest that Tencent plans to create its own gaming smartphone, which is likely to be built on the basis of a processor Qualcomm.
Source: 3dnews.ru