Convai

Convai is one of the leading platforms for adding conversational AI to interactive experiences — games, VR training simulations, virtual events, and metaverse environments. It's used by developers who want NPCs that can have real conversations, not just follow dialogue trees.

## Conversational Character API

Convai's core product is a character API: define a character's backstory, personality, and knowledge, then call the API with player speech or text. The API returns a text response and, optionally, audio (via built-in TTS). Characters maintain conversation history, stay in role, and handle edge cases gracefully.

## Knowledge Grounding

Characters can be grounded in custom knowledge bases — game lore documents, quest information, NPC backstories. When a player asks about the history of the kingdom, the NPC answers accurately from the lore document, not just from the AI's general training. This prevents hallucination and ensures narrative consistency.

## Actions Framework

Beyond dialogue, Convai's Actions framework lets NPCs trigger in-game behaviors. When an NPC decides to give the player an item, open a door, or call for backup, these intentions can be mapped to game engine events. This bridges conversation and gameplay.

## Multiplayer and Persistent Memory

Convai supports persistent memory: NPCs remember what players told them in previous sessions. A player who helped the blacksmith in Chapter 1 will be remembered when they return in Chapter 3. This creates the sense of a living world.

## Integrations

Convai provides Unity and Unreal Engine plugins, a REST API, a Python SDK, and integrations with NVIDIA ACE (for avatar animation). Developers can deploy characters in games, VR experiences, WebGL environments, and video.

## Pricing

Free: 100 interactions/day. Pro: $20/month (5,000 interactions). Enterprise: custom. Students and researchers get extended free access.