Imagine a future in which everyone is empowered to build and use their own AI agents. That future may not be far off, as new software is infused with intelligence through collaborative AI systems that work alongside users rather than merely automating tasks.In this episode of the NVIDIA AI Podcast, Kanjun Qiu, CEO of Imbue, discusses the rise of AI agents, drawing parallels between the personal computer revolution of the late 1970s and 80s and todays AI agent transformation. She details Imbues approach to building reasoning capabilities into its products, the challenges of verifying the correctness of AI outputs and how Imbue is focusing on post-training and fine-tuning to improve verification capabilities.The AI Podcast Imbue CEO Kanjun Qiu on Transforming AI Agents Into Personal Collaborators Ep. 239Learn more about Imbue, and read more about AI agents, including how virtual assistants can enhance customer service experiences.And hear more about the future of AI and graphics by tuning in to the CES keynote, delivered by NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang live in Las Vegas on Monday, Jan. 6, at 6:30 p.m. PT.Time Stamps1:21 What are AI agents? And Imbues approach to them.9:00 Where are AI agents being used the most today?17:05 Why building a good user experience around agents requires invention.26:28 How reasoning and verification capabilities factor into Imbues products.You Might Also LikeZoom CTO Xuedong XD Huang on How AI Revolutionizes ProductivityZoom is now transforming into an AI-first platform. CTO Xuedong Huang discusses Zooms AI Companion 2.0 and the companys federated AI strategy, which aims to integrate multiple large language models to enhance productivity and collaboration.How Roblox Uses Generative AI to Enhance User ExperiencesRoblox is enhancing its colorful online platform with generative AI to improve user safety and inclusivity through features like automated chat filters and real-time text translation. Anupam Singh, VP of AI and growth engineering at Roblox, explores how AI coding assistants are helping creators focus more on creative expression.Rendered.ai CEO Nathan Kundtz on Using AI to Build Better AIData is crucial for training AI and machine learning systems, and synthetic data offers a solution to the challenges of compiling real-world data. Nathan Kundtz, founder and CEO of Rendered.ai, discusses how his companys platform generates synthetic data to enhance AI models.Subscribe to the AI PodcastGet the AI Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Google Play, Castbox, DoggCatcher, Overcast, PlayerFM, Pocket Casts, Podbay, PodBean, PodCruncher, PodKicker, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher and TuneIn.

Editors note: This post is part of the AI On blog series, which explores the latest techniques and real-world applications of agentic AI, chatbots and copilots. The series will also highlight the NVIDIA software and hardware powering advanced AI agents, which form the foundation of AI query engines that gather insights and perform tasks to transform everyday experiences and reshape industries.To enhance productivity and upskill workers, organizations worldwide are seeking ways to provide consistent, around-the-clock customer service with greater speed, accuracy and scale.Intelligent AI agents offer one such solution. They deliver advanced problem-solving capabilities and integrate vast and disparate sources of data to understand and respond to natural language.Powered by generative AI and agentic AI, digital avatars are boosting efficiency across industries like healthcare, telecom, manufacturing, retail and more. According to Gartner, by 2028, 45% of organizations with more than 500 employees will use employee AI avatars to expand the capacity of human capital.1From educating prospects on policies to giving customers personalized solutions, AI is helping organizations optimize revenue streams and elevate employee knowledge and productivity.Where Context-Aware AI Avatars Are Most ImpactfulStaying ahead in a competitive, evolving market requires continuous learning and analysis. AI avatars also referred to as digital humans are addressing key concerns and enhancing operations across industries.One key benefit of agentic digital human technology is the ability to offer consistent, multilingual support and personalized guidance for a variety of use cases.For instance, a medical-based AI agent can provide 24/7 virtual intake and support telehealth services. Or, a virtual financial advisor can help enhance client security and financial literacy by alerting bank customers of potential fraud, or offering personalized offers and investment tips based on their unique portfolio.These digital humans boost efficiency, cut costs and enhance customer loyalty. Some key ways digital humans can be applied include:Personalized, On-Brand Customer Assistance: A digital human interface can provide a personal touch when educating new customers on a companys products and service portfolios. They can provide ongoing customer support, offering immediate responses and solving problems without the need for a live operator.Enhanced Employee Onboarding: Intelligent AI assistants can offer streamlined, adaptable, personalized employee onboarding, whether in hospitals or offices, by providing consistent access to updated institutional knowledge at scale. With pluggable, customizable retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), these assistants can deliver real-time answers to queries while maintaining a deep understanding of company-specific data.Seamless Communication Across Languages: In global enterprises, communication barriers can slow down operations. AI-powered avatars with natural language processing capabilities can communicate effortlessly across languages. This is especially useful in customer service or employee training environments where multilingual support is crucial.Learn more by listening to the NVIDIA AI Podcast episode with Kanjun Qiu, CEO of Imbue, who shares insights on how to build smarter AI agents.Interactive AI Agents With Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-TextWith text-to-speech and speech-to-text capabilities, AI agents can offer enhanced interactivity and engagement in customer service interactions.SoftServe, an IT consulting and digital services provider, has built several digital humans for a variety of use cases, highlighting the technologys potential to enhance user experiences.SoftServes Digital Concierge is accelerated by NVIDIA AI Blueprints and NVIDIA ACE technologies to rapidly deploy scalable, customizable digital humans across diverse infrastructures.GEN, SoftServes virtual customer service assistant and digital concierge, makes customer service more engaging by providing lifelike interactions, continuous availability, personalized responses and simultaneous access to all necessary knowledge bases.SoftServe also developed FINNA, an AI-powered virtual financial advisor that can provide financial guidance tailored to a clients profile and simplify complex financial terminology. It helps streamline onboarding and due diligence, supporting goal-oriented financial planning and risk assessment. AISHA is another AI-powered digital human developed by SoftServe with NVIDIA technology. Created for the UAE Ministry of Justice, the digital human significantly improves judicial processes by reducing case review times, enhancing the accuracy of rulings and providing rapid access to legal databases. It demonstrates how generative AI can bridge the gap between technology and meaningful user interaction to enhance customer service and operational efficiency in the judicial sector.How to Design AI Agents With Avatar and Speech FeaturesDesigning AI agents with avatar and speech features involves several key stepsDetermine the use case: Choose between 2D or 3D avatars based on the required level of immersion and interaction.Avatar development:For 3D avatars, use specialized software and technical expertise to create lifelike movements and photorealism.For 2D avatars, opt for quicker development suitable for web-embedded solutions.Integrate speech technologies: Use NVIDIA Riva for world-class automatic speech recognition, along with text-to-speech to enable verbal interactions.Rendering options: Use NVIDIA Omniverse RTX Renderer technology or Unreal Engine tools for 3D avatars to achieve high-quality output and compute efficiency.Deployment: Tap cloud-native deployment for real-time output and scalability, particularly for interactive web or mobile applications.For an overview on how to design interactive customer service tools, read the technical blogs on how to Build a Digital Human Interface for AI Apps With an NVIDIA AI Blueprint and Expanding AI Agent Interface Options With 2D and 3D Digital Human Avatars.NVIDIA AI Blueprint for Digital HumansThe latest release of the NVIDIA AI Blueprint for digital humans introduces several updates that enhance the interactivity and responsiveness of digital avatars, including dynamic switching between RAG models. Users can experience this directly in preview.The integration of the Audio2Face-2D microservice in the blueprint means developers can create 2D digital humans, which require significantly less processing power compared with 3D models, for web- and mobile-based applications.2D avatars are better suited for simpler interactions and platforms where photorealism isnt necessary. This makes them ideal for scenarios like telemedicine, where quick loading times with lower bandwidth requirements are crucial.Another significant update is the introduction of user attention detection through vision AI. This feature enables digital humans to detect when a user is present even if they are idle or on mute and initiate interaction, such as greeting the user. This capability is particularly beneficial in kiosk scenarios, where engaging users proactively can enhance the service experience.Getting StartedNVIDIA AI Blueprints make it easy to start building and setting up virtual assistants by offering ready-made workflows and tools to accelerate deployment. Whether for a simple AI-powered chatbot or a fully animated digital human interface, the blueprints offer resources to create AI assistants that are scalable, aligned with an organizations brand and deliver a responsive, efficient customer support experience.1. Gartner, Hype Cycle for the Future of Work, 2024, Tori Paulman, Emily Rose, etc., July 2024GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark and Hype Cycle is a trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

For more than two decades, the NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program has supported graduate students doing outstanding work relevant to NVIDIA technologies. Today, the program announced the latest awards of up to $60,000 each to 10 Ph.D. students involved in research that spans all areas of computing innovation.Selected from a highly competitive applicant pool, the awardees will participate in a summer internship preceding the fellowship year. Their work puts them at the forefront of accelerated computing tackling projects in autonomous systems, computer architecture, computer graphics, deep learning, programming systems, robotics and security.The NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program is open to applicants worldwide.The 2025-2026 fellowship recipients are:Anish Saxena, Georgia Institute of Technology Rethinking data movement across the stack spanning large language model architectures, system software and memory systems to improve the efficiency of LLM training and inference.Jiawei Yang, University of Southern California Creating scalable, generalizable foundation models for autonomous systems through self-supervised learning, leveraging neural reconstruction to capture detailed environmental geometry and dynamic scene behaviors, and enhancing adaptability in robotics, digital twin technologies and autonomous driving.Jiayi (Eris) Zhang, Stanford University Developing intelligent algorithms, models and tools for enhancing user creativity and productivity in design, animation and simulation.Ruisi Cai, University of Texas at Austin Working on efficient training and inference for large foundation models as well as AI security and privacy.Seul Lee, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Developing generative models for molecules and exploration strategies in chemical space for drug discovery applications.Sreyan Ghosh, University of Maryland, College Park Advancing audio processing and reasoning by designing resource-efficient models and training techniques, improving audio representation learning and enhancing audio perception for AI systems.Tairan He, Carnegie Mellon University Researching the development of humanoid robots, with a focus on advancing whole-body loco-manipulation through large-scale simulation-to-real learning.Xiaogeng Liu, University of WisconsinMadison Developing robust and trustworthy AI systems, with an emphasis on evaluating and enhancing machine learning models to ensure consistent performance and resilience against diverse attacks and unforeseen inputs.Yunze Man, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Developing vision-centric reasoning models for multimodal and embodied AI agents, with a focus on object-centric perception systems in dynamic scenes, vision foundation models for open-world scene understanding and generation, and large multimodal models for embodied reasoning and robotics planning.Zhiqiang Xie, Stanford University Building infrastructures to enable more efficient, scalable and complex compound AI systems while enhancing the observability and reliability of such systems.We also acknowledge the 2025-2026 fellowship finalists:Bo Zhao, University of California, San DiegoChenning Li, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDacheng Li, University of California, BerkeleyJiankai Sun, Stanford UniversityWenlong Huang, Stanford University

It was wonderful to see the launch of the PlayStation 5 Pro console a few weeks ago. For those interested in the in-depth technical aspects of PS5 Pro, weve put together a video describing the bits and bytes behind the console: how it came together, how it works, and why its the first step in an exciting new journey for gamers. You can watch below!Note: the below video is focused on the technology behind PS5 Pro and doesnt feature new game announcements or new gameplay footage.Play VideoIn the presentation, youll learn what the advanced in Advanced Ray Tracing really means, the difference between FLOPS and TOPS, and some of the challenges involved in developing the efficient machine learning hardware needed for PSSR the AI-driven upscaling featured in PS5 Pro.View and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageAt the end of the presentation, I also do something that we typically dont do at SIE I touch on how our learnings with PS5 Pro will fuel our future ambitions in our never-ending quest to push the boundaries of play. AMD has been a fantastic partner for SIE for many years now, and Im honored to announce that we have begun a deeper collaboration with a focus on Machine Learning-based technology for graphics and gameplay. Both AMD and SIE share many of the same goals related to advancing the medium of video games. Watch the presentation to learn more about this exciting plan!View and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageWe also did an encore presentation of this lecture before an audience including journalists from Digital Foundry, IGN, and Wccftech. Keep an eye out for their coverage, and more discussion of RDNA, ray tracing, and machine learning.

For Humble Bundles Very Humble Holiday, Adams Media is having a flash bundle sale that will give you all the skills and knowledge you need to be a great dungeon master. Raising money for Worldreader, the bundle includes 22 books collected from the Ultimate RPG series, Teri Litorcos Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming, the Dngeonmeister food and drink recipe books, and a collection of mythology books to inspire your worldbuilding.One of the only major publishers to venture into tabletop roleplaying games, Simon & Schuster imprint Adams media began publishing books about tabletop games in 2016, with Litorcos guide that included 100 gaming etiquette rules every gamer must live by. In 2018, it published the Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide by James DAmato, Polygon contributor and founder of the One Shot actual play network. The book offers prompts and exercises to flesh out player character backstories, creating a more fully fleshed persona for players to embody once they sat down at the table.The success of DAmatos guide launched the line of guides featured in this bundle. Other books by DAmato in this series include the Ultimate RPG Game Masters Worldbuilding Guide, the Ultimate RPG Gameplay Guide, and The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book, which includes 40 rules-lite tabletop games.Other books in the series include the Ultimate Random Encounters Book by Travis Wheeler (which offers hundreds of encounters to incorporate into any fantasy game of your choice) and The Everything Tabletop Games Book by Bebo. The latter promises to introduce the uninitiated into the world of tabletop, explaining different genres of games while teaching strategies for winning them. Also included in the bundle are three books by Jef Aldrich and Jon Taylor: the A Dragon Walks Into A Bar joke book, the Dngeonmeister Drink Masters Guide cocktail recipe book, and the Dngeonmeister Cookbook, which has 75 RPG-inspired recipes geared toward game-night snacks.The final genre of books in this bundle are less specific to tabletop gaming, but are meant to provide a wealth of inspiration for dungeonmasters to pull from. That includes mythology anthologies covering specific creatures like mermaids, fairies, unicorns, dragons, vampires, and wizards, as well as culture-specific lore from Viking, Celtic, and Greek mythology. One book, by Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy, focuses specifically on the role of women in mythology around the world. To round it out, the final book in this bundle is A Dictionary of Made-Up Languages by Stephen D. Rogers which is exactly what it says on the tin, and covers Klingon, Elvish, and other conlangs.Until Dec. 19, all of that is available for less than $20. A portion of the proceeds raised from this bundle go to Worldreader, a global nonprofit organization that has donated millions of digital books to children in more than 100 countries.

Palia is a cozy crafting game set in a beautiful fantasy world where humans have recently re-emerged into a world claimed by friendly elves and helpful robots. Over the games time in beta, game developer Singularity 6 has been adding new activities in the underground market of Kilima village and the open zone of Bahari Bay, making it more inviting to venture out into the world. But theres no place like home, and Wednesdays Holiday Homestead patch adds some fun new activities for players to enjoy at their homestead.Players in Palia have a home plot where they can build whatever they like usually a lovely house and base of operations. But looking through community lots, you can also find things like giant dinosaurs, movie theaters, or forest glades. During the first Winterlights celebration in 2023 its the Kilima equivalent of Christmas players unlocked seasonal decorations like a tree and strings of lights.This year, Singularity 6 decided to capture the experience of gathering at a friends house to play board games. Town cook Reth, while on duty in the underground black market, will sell sets of dice and two boards: one with a checkered pattern, and one inspired by Snakes and Ladders. Players can make up their own rules, and Im curious to see fans come up with their own complicated games.There are also other cosmetic treats: There are now hundreds of new items that players can repaint, including the very handsome Investigator set. Decorating is one of the most time-consuming tasks in Palia, since there are so many types of furniture belonging to different sets. More tints adds even more variety. Singularity 6 also added 16 new curtains and drapes, which can make a good finishing touch on a room.The game-board content, curtains, and furniture tints are all permanent additions to the game, but theres also new temporary content and cosmetics for the Winterlight season including the ability to have a snowball fight in the town square. In the future, players can expect another Maji Market, and the eventual addition of a new zone: the ominous Elderwood.

Elden Ring Nightreign is a cooperative spinoff with an asterisk. You can play it with a group of three or by yourself, but not in a duo, according to an IGN interview with director Junya Ishizaki. There isnt a technical reason for this awkward limitation, however. Its about game balance.This was largely a game balancing decision, rather than a game design decision, Ishizaki said. So it came as development progressed. Like in Elden Ring, enemy health will scale based on your group size. However, the team found the sweet spot is three players because it doesnt feel too overwhelming or too busy, he said.Even though Elden Ring worked just fine with two people, Nightreign has a very different approach to combat. You only have three nights to level up and collect gear before its baddest bosses show up. Hands-on previews from IGN and PC Gamer say the run-based structure speeds up the action from what youre familiar with in the original game, and its unique heroes have abilities they can perform together.Getting around its randomized world will be faster, too. The trailer has characters flying over lava pools on ghostly eagles and scaling walls. Youll be racing to find as much loot as possible before night falls and a battle-royale-style circle swallows you up. Three player groups allowed each player to go off on their own, potentially, and cover a bit of the map before they reunite for the boss, Ishizaki said.Solo players or duos looking for a third can use matchmaking to fill the empty slots. Otherwise, you still have to use a group password to find each other. As someone who played through the game using the Seamless co-op PC mod, I wouldnt be surprised if a modder figures out how to make two-player co-op work. But until then, the rules are the rules.Understandably, not everyone is happy about this. Well that sucks. I was planning on playing with my friend who I always co-opd Elden Ring with, one Reddit user commented in a post about the news. If it throws in random third person, maybe its okay, but its not like that person is going to be included in our voice chat.The circle might not be the only thing Nightreign recreates from the battle royale experience: You might be the third wheel in a group coordinating without you, or the duo ignoring the random player on the team. In a game as brutal as Elden Ring, Im not even sure a ping button would fix that.Elden Ring Nightreign will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2025. FromSoft is also running a short beta test in February.

A new headquarters for Moas Group in So Paulo, Brazil, designed by Perkins&Will, boasts a full showroom and office in one space. A market leader in the country, company management wanted a modern hub that highlights their well-known lines and supports employees in one location. Its not just an office with a sales space at the back. We emphasized the showroom experience and created a home for three brands, says Guilherme Meneses, project designer at Perkins&Will.Organized on two floors, at the entry level, the reception area and showroom are at the forefront. In this sector people can view items from Buba, Buba Care, and Mart. The trio of brands features diverse collections of goods for children and the home. With the variety of colorful merchandise on offer, the design team selected a neutral palette to envelop the over 35,000-square foot workspace. Shades of beige, cream, and white provide the ideal backdrop to highlight the products and give them even more appeal to clients.In the caf, staff members can have lunch or talk with colleagues and then head up to the next level via the central stair. The heart of operations is found on this large upper floor, including several divisions, from marketing to financial services. With 360-degree views of the city, the architects not only prioritized a connection to the outdoors, but also access for all.The layout was conceived with a flat hierarchy in mind, with sections that are utilized by staff from the top down. People can effortlessly move from one department to another, or they can interact with co-workers on different teams. A mix of collaboration areas and workstations provide flexibility, which is key as the company continues to grow. Units can be reconfigured, and soft seating can simply be transported from one place to another.The directors rooms, removed from the main floor in the former office, are now at each corner. These same interiors also double as meeting spaces which can be used by everyone. Glass-fronted conference rooms allow for greater transparency and add to the airy feel.Elements include wood- and stone-look veneers which are easy to clean and maintain. Vinyl flooring mimics the look of terrazzo, with the ideal durability for the high-traffic zone. Shelves surrounding the desks hold objects and small sculptures, giving the spot a residential touch. Plenty of plants enliven the office, offering much-needed contrast from the gray urban skyline. Inspired by lush tree canopies, greenery was arranged to produce a natural layered effect.The distinctive design celebrates Moas Groups two decades of success. It was our challenge to play with these solutions and materials in sophisticated combinations that reflect the importance of the brands, Meneses adds.To explore the Perkins&Will portfolio, visit perkinswill.com.Photography by Renato Navarro.