AI-town on HackerShow

agent simulation starter kit

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AI-town, run your own custom AI world SIM with JavaScript

Shown by ykhli on Aug 14, 2023. Click the card to turn it over.

429points

115comments

#71of 3,109 in 2023

Top 3%of 2023 by points

How HN took it

CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments

14 positive, 29 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 11 critical, out of 54 comments about the project. Thread score +0.14.

Idea: 8 for, 3 againstExecution: 1 for, 3 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 againstDesign: 0 for, 2 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

Fun and interesting demo; good foundation for games
From 4 comments
- Could lead to cool sim games. I’d love a modern zoo tycoon. I enjoyed that game as a kid. Or roller coaster tycoon. There you go, hopefully y’all make some money. Just send me…
  moomoo11 on HN
- This is great. I love how weird some of the characters can be, just like in real life. For example: Pete is deeply religious and sees the hand of god or of the work of the devil…
  leke on HN
- This is a very interesting use case of the Generative Agents project. I feel like this is just one of the earlier attempts at creating an interactive experience with this, but…
  tavavex on HN
- A friend and I recently started a game studio that was largely inspired by this paper. This is an amazing foundation and I'm excited to build some more complex strategy games on…
  drusepth on HN
Useful starter kit with integrated frameworks
From 1 comment
- The AI-town stuff is cool, but the real benefit is how all the backing frameworks are already integrated. I'll definitely be using this as a jumping-off point for my next LLM…
  pkiv on HN

Characters produce off-topic or unconstrained behavior
From 2 comments
- Here's a chat message from a random character in the demo I clicked on: ALEX 8/15/2023, 1:53:43 AM Absolutely! Here's a glimpse of my latest masterpiece. [Attaches a photo of the…
  Imnimo on HN
- Clicked on Tilly in cat town, and: "Tilly is a dog and likes barking because she is a dog." Seems like it might need some adjusting :)
  mysterydip on HN
Unclear purpose and why a16z sponsors it
From 2 comments
- To be crass and direct, > The goal is to democratize building your own simulation environment with AI agents. Would love to see the community build more complex interactions on…
  jamesdwilson on HN
- why did they make this? what is the purpose? why do they want "to see the community build more complex interactions on top of this" - what's in it for them?
  jamesdwilson on HN
Characters can be unsettling, e.g. described as sociopaths
From 1 comment
- I looked at the demo and apparently everyone is a sociopath? One character is literally described as "a sociopath who has no empathy". So it might be a good idea to check up on…
  drewtato on HN

Self-hosting without OpenAI
From 1 comment
- This is great! How do i self host it (no open ai)?
  testernews on HN
Clarify what living and socializing mean
From 2 comments
- > a virtual town where AI characters live, chat and socialize The description says "live", "chat" and "socialize", but I only saw "chat". What exactly does "living" and…
  thih9 on HN
- What does it mean for them to “live”? Are there certain goals they try to accomplish? Find food? A mate? Build families?
  xwdv on HN
Support local models
From 1 comment
- If you haven't yet checked out the Generative Agents project referenced by OP, definitely give it a look, it's open source: https://github.com/joonspk-research/generative_agents…
  jmorgan on HN