Ubisoft and Riot Games are researching together to better protect people from abuse in video games

Ubisoft and Riot Games have announced that they will work together on the “Zero Harm in Comms” research project, which will use artificial intelligence to prevent players from abusing each other in in-game chats.

It is the first cross-industry research initiative intended to fight back against disruptive behaviour, and will hopefully create more safe and meaningful online interactions through its ethos of collaboration and its academic outlook.

Ubisoft and Riot hope that with both Riot’s highly competitive games and Ubisoft’s very diversified portfolio, the data gathered by their research should cover every type of player and in-game behaviour for their moderation AI tools to learn from.

“Disruptive player behaviours is an issue that we take very seriously but also one that is very difficult to solve. At Ubisoft, we have been working on concrete measures to ensure safe and enjoyable experiences, but we believe that, by coming together as an industry, we will be able to tackle this issue more effectively.” said Yves Jacquier, executive director, Ubisoft La Forge. “Through this technological partnership with Riot Games, we are exploring how to better prevent in-game toxicity as designers of these environments with a direct link to our communities.”

“Disruptive behaviour isn’t a problem that is unique to games – every company that has an online social platform is working to address this challenging space. That is why we’re committed to working with industry partners like Ubisoft who believe in creating safe communities and fostering positive experiences in online spaces,” said Wesley Kerr, head of technology research at Riot Games. “This project is just an example of the wider commitment and work that we’re doing across Riot to develop systems that create healthy, safe, and inclusive interactions with our games.”

While they’ve only just got started, the “Zero Harm in Comms” project intends to share its findings with the whole industry next year, no matter what the outcome is.

If you’d like to learn more about the research project in the meantime, you can do that over on Ubisoft News and Riot Games’ blog.