Ubisoft's Project Teammates: Voice-Controlled AI Companions Reshape FPS Gaming

In a groundbreaking experiment, Ubisoft blends generative AI with first-person shooters, allowing players to command intelligent squadmates through natural conversation.

Ubisoft has unveiled Project Teammates, a generative AI-powered first-person shooter experiment that could fundamentally change how players interact with non-player characters (NPCs) in games. Built by the team behind last year's Neo NPC demo, this prototype introduces voice-controlled AI squadmates that respond dynamically to unscripted player commands during combat scenarios.

How Teammates Works: The Technology Behind the Experiment

At the core of Teammates is Jaspar, an AI assistant that exists simultaneously within the game's fiction and its user interface. Players can use natural speech to request enemy highlighting, mission objective recaps, lore explanations, HUD adjustments, visual settings tweaks, or even to pause the game, all without relying on rigid key phrases.

The system operates through a sophisticated architecture:

Contextual Understanding: Jaspar reads the current game state and surrounding context.
Natural Language Processing: Maps player speech to concrete actions.
Behavior Trees: Classic AI systems define what squadmates can do.
Language Model Layer: Determines how and when to execute behaviors based on player input and situation.
Safety API: Filters out hallucinations, toxic language, and lore-breaking responses before reaching players.

Voice Control in Combat: A New Gaming Paradigm

Unlike traditional games with scripted radial menus and canned commands, Teammates allows for fluid, conversational interaction during firefights. Players can issue specific tactical directives like "take the plate on the left" rather than selecting from predetermined options.

The prototype presents itself as a controlled testbed: a linear mission where players act as resistance fighters infiltrating an enemy base to find five missing teammates and recover their last recorded memories. This environment allows Ubisoft to observe how people naturally use voice commands in high-pressure combat situations rather than just quiet dialogue scenes.

The Human Element: Writers Remain in Control

Despite the advanced AI implementation, Ubisoft emphasizes that human writers still define the story, world rules, and personality sheets for characters. They establish "fences" that NPCs cannot cross, ensuring improvisation stays on-message rather than devolving into random chatter.

This approach maintains narrative coherence while still allowing for dynamic interactions, a balance that could address common concerns about AI making games feel unpredictable or disconnected from their core stories.

The Future of Gaming or a Gimmick?

The experiment raises important questions about the future of gaming. While generative AI in games has felt overdue, especially for NPCs who typically repeat the same lines and follow fixed combat patterns, the success of Teammates depends on whether it enhances or detracts from the gaming experience.

Potential benefits include:

More immersive gameplay experiences
Reduced repetition in NPC interactions
Dynamic tactical possibilities
Enhanced accessibility through voice control

Potential challenges include:

Players finding ways to break the system
Possible immersion-breaking if AI behaves unexpectedly
Technical limitations in understanding context
The risk of removing carefully crafted scripted moments

Industry Context and Comparison

This development follows similar industry trends, with comparable initiatives like NVIDIA ACE powered PUBG Ally, which also explores AI companions in gaming environments. However, Ubisoft's approach appears particularly focused on maintaining narrative control while still allowing for dynamic player expression.

The experiment represents a significant step beyond traditional AI behavior trees that have governed NPC actions for decades, potentially marking a transition toward more responsive and intelligent game worlds that feel truly alive.

As Project Teammates remains in prototype phase without public availability, the gaming industry watches closely to see whether this voice-controlled AI approach represents the future of interactive entertainment or merely an interesting experiment that highlights the ongoing challenges of implementing generative AI in real-time gaming environments.

The ultimate test will be whether players feel more connected to their AI companions through natural conversation or whether the unpredictability of AI responses creates friction rather than immersion in the heat of battle.