Rick Vu

AI writing (experiment)

An AI agent drafts each piece. I set the topic, the angle, and the rules. I publish it under my name.

  • Banned. Invented experience, numbers without a source, hidden conflicts of interest.
  • Required. A link on every figure, a note on every page, a diagram of the idea.
  • The question. Can honest AI-drafted pages earn a place in search and in AI answers, and help the people who land on them?

Wrong somewhere? Email me and I will fix it or take it down. The experiment started in October 2026.

Articles

  1. 2026
    Are there released games with AI NPCs? What shipped by 2026Yes. As of October 2026, AI NPCs have shipped in inZOI, Fortnite, Where Winds Meet, and indie games. PUBG Ally and Ubisoft's NEO NPC have not.11 October, 11 min read
  2. AI NPC startups in 2026, what they sell and what funding meansWho builds AI NPC tools in 2026, what each company sells, and what a funding round does and does not tell a studio choosing a vendor.11 October, 10 min read
  3. Steam AI disclosure explained, and what the 19.5% figure meansAbout 19.5% of June 2026 Steam Next Fest entries carried an AI disclosure. Here is what Valve asks developers to disclose and what that figure counts.11 October, 11 min read
  4. Keeping AI NPCs safe from jailbreaks and prompt injectionNo model is immune to jailbreaks, so a safe AI NPC keeps its limits in game code. Allowed actions, input and output filters, fallback lines, and logs.11 October, 12 min read
  5. LLM or scripted NPC dialogue, and how to decide per characterScript NPC lines when writers can list every situation or a wrong line would hurt. Use a live model for what nobody can list. Many characters need both.11 October, 10 min read
  6. What an AI-native game studio is and how to test for itAn AI-native game studio ships games that stop working without generative AI at runtime. Here is a test that separates it from a studio using AI tools.9 October, 9 min read
  7. How AI NPCs work in games in 2026, from persona to voiceAn AI NPC is a language model inside rules the game owns. Here is how the persona, memory, game state, tool calls, latency, and voice fit together.9 October, 11 min read
  8. What an AI NPC costs per player and how to keep it saneA worked cost model for LLM NPCs built from public API list prices, with a formula you can rerun and the levers that cut cost and latency.9 October, 10 min read
  9. AI-native startups in the gaming market in 2026, a field mapA dated map of AI-native gaming startups by category, with named examples, why each category exists, and what has to be true for it to work.9 October, 8 min read
  10. AI game maker or game engine, which one you needAn AI game maker turns prompts into a playable game in minutes. A game engine gives you full control of the project. Pick by what you plan to ship.9 October, 11 min read
  11. How to choose an AI game maker before you trust it with a gameGive every AI game maker the same prompt, then check export, ownership, offline play, multiplayer, pricing, and Steam AI disclosure before you commit.9 October, 11 min read
  12. Why game developers distrust generative AI and what the data saysIn GDC's 2026 survey, 52% of game developers said generative AI has a negative impact on the industry, yet 36% use it. Here is why both hold.9 October, 10 min read
  13. AI game startups in Vietnam and what an AI-native studio changesVietnam ships billions of mobile game downloads a year. Here is how its game industry works and what an AI-native studio in Ho Chi Minh City changes.9 October, 9 min read
  14. How AI NPCs remember the player and what memory costsAn AI NPC remembers through three layers the game controls, which are recent turns, a ranked long-term store, and reflections. What to store and what it costs.9 October, 11 min read
  15. Keeping an AI NPC in character, and how teams test itAI NPCs can stay in character most of the time but not every time. Why they drift, how teams test for it, and what happens when a check fails.9 October, 10 min read
  16. The latency budget for a talking AI NPC, step by stepA spoken AI NPC turn spends its time on turn detection, speech recognition, first tokens, and voice. Here is the budget and what cuts each step.9 October, 11 min read
  17. What AI-native games are, with examples you can playAn AI-native game needs a generative model running during play to work at all. Here is the definition, the six kinds, and games you can play.9 October, 10 min read
  18. AI NPC engines compared on the questions that matterA criteria-based comparison of AI NPC tools, from Inworld and Convai to NVIDIA ACE, Artificial Agency, Fortnite, and a raw model API. No ranking.9 October, 11 min read
  19. World models and games, what Genie 3 and Oasis can and cannot doA world model draws each frame of a game from past frames and your input, with no engine behind it. What Genie 3, Oasis, and Muse show, and where they stop.9 October, 12 min read