{"id":61771,"date":"2026-03-04T18:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=61771"},"modified":"2026-03-04T18:01:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:01:53","slug":"koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/","title":{"rendered":"Koei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Japanese company SpiralAI has announced<\/a> the signing of a strategic partnership with Koei Tecmo and unveiled its next-generation large language model, Geppetto2.<\/strong> The model is positioned as a means to \u201csafely deliver Japanese IP to the world\u201d and is essentially an IP-focused LLM designed for creating and running fictional characters belonging to established franchises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2023, SpiralAI is an AI startup with experience developing character-based conversational AI. Previously, the company developed the rat-themed interactive AI companion app HAPPY RAT<\/a>, produced by voice actor Yuki Kaji (source: 4Gamer<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the new Geppetto2, unlike general-purpose AI models like ChatGPT, it\u2019s positioned as a model specifically designed for for use in entertainment, including video games. It was developed with the goal of overcoming the limitations of prompts, implementing what the company describes as \u201cdeep learning of the characters\u2019 core traits,\u201d allowing natural and true-to-character conversations between the user and the character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gepetto2\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to the announcement, characters built on Geppetto2\u00a0will\u00a0strictly adhere to their predefined\u00a0fictional\u00a0backgrounds. For example, they\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be able to\u00a0access information they\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0ordinarily be able to know,\u00a0reducing\u00a0hallucinations. Additionally, as\u00a0players\u00a0engage in\u00a0dialogue, the character\u2019s relationship with the player\u00a0is supposed to\u00a0evolve over time, enabling the\u00a0AI\u00a0to express more complex emotions.\u00a0SpiralAI\u00a0also\u00a0plans to\u00a0implement\u00a0compatibility\u00a0for gaming PCs and mobile devices down the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the press release, Koei Tecmo CEO Hisashi Koinuma commented, \u201cWe highly value [SpiralAI\u2019s] efforts in leveraging AI to create new forms of entertainment, including the development of character conversational AI apps, and have therefore made this investment. Through this strategic partnership, we will support SpiralAI’s efforts to create new experiences that combine entertainment and AI.\u201d It\u2019s not clear yet whether and in what ways the technology will be used in Koei Tecmo titles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is interested in finding ways to incorporate AI chatbots into gameplay\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Koei Tecmo has partnered with SpiralAI, the developer of Japanese character-based conversational AI model Geppetto2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":61774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,17],"class_list":["post-61771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ai","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nKoei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Koei Tecmo has partnered with SpiralAI, the developer of Japanese character-based conversational AI model Geppetto2.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Koei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Koei Tecmo has partnered with SpiralAI, the developer of Japanese character-based conversational AI model Geppetto2.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-04T09:00:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-04T09:01:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260304-61771-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"851\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Koei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Koei Tecmo has partnered with SpiralAI, the developer of Japanese character-based conversational AI model Geppetto2.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Koei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Koei Tecmo has partnered with SpiralAI, the developer of Japanese character-based conversational AI model Geppetto2.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-03-04T09:00:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-04T09:01:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":851,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260304-61771-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Koei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-03-04T09:00:04+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-04T09:01:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/"},"wordCount":394,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260304-61771-header.jpg","keywords":["AI","News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/","name":"Koei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260304-61771-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-04T09:00:04+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-04T09:01:53+00:00","description":"Koei Tecmo has partnered with SpiralAI, the developer of Japanese character-based conversational AI model Geppetto2.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260304-61771-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260304-61771-header.jpg","width":1520,"height":851,"caption":"Koei Tecmo SpiralAI partnership"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/koei-tecmo-partners-and-invests-in-ai-startup-behind-new-character-chatbot-style-llm\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Koei Tecmo partners\u00a0and invests in\u00a0AI startup behind new\u00a0character chatbot-style LLM\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61771"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61779,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61771\/revisions\/61779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}