AI bots mingled at a bar and had a party when researchers gave them a town

cointelegraph.com:

A society of 25 artificial intelligence (AI) bots were observed waking up, cooking breakfast, heading to work, going to the bar for lunch with friends and even throwing a party by six researchers who created a town for the bots.

The researchers from Google and Stanford University explained in an April 7 paper titled “Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior” that they built a virtual town populated with ChatGPT-trained “generative agents.”

The purpose of the study — which is yet to be peer-reviewed — was to create a small, interactive society of AI bots inspired by life-simulation games such as The Sims.

The agents could make a wide range of inferences about themselves, other agents and their town of “Smallville” by synthesizing new information, storing it in memory and then behaving in a way that reflects that knowledge.

For example, the agents could turn off their kitchen stove when they see their breakfast is burning, coordinate plans and even engage in seemingly meaningful conversations with other agents.

The results led the researchers to conclude that the generative agents produce “believable” human behaviors:

One example shared in the study explained that the AI agent “Isabella Rodriguez” invited nine other agents to a Valentine’s Day party at the town's cafe.

The details of the party were passed on to four others, including “Abigail,” who then expressed excitement about the upcoming event with Isabella.

In another example showing the “day in the life” of an AI agent, “John Lin” woke up at 7 am, brushed his teeth, had a shower, ate breakfast and checked the news at the dining table in his living room.

Before John's son Eddy headed off to school, John asked what he’ll be working on for the day, Eddy