Nunu.ai has raised $6 million and unveiled Unembodied Minds, or AI agents designed for game testing and to control any given body and perform a task in any environment.

These AI agents will be versatile enough to test hundreds of game levels and do other tasks as well. But it will raise the question whether the automation of game testing will cost more human game tester jobs.

The company said its vision extends beyond video games. As games become increasingly realistic, game engines are evolving into advanced physics engines capable of simulating real-world conditions. Since Nunu.ai’s AI agents can act and navigate in any virtual environment, the company believes its platform will naturally progress into real-world applications. 

“Since our launch, several gaming studios have deployed our AI agents to QA-test their video games. As we continue to work across all platforms in the games industry, we plan to expand beyond virtual environments into the real world,” said cofounder Kyrill Hux, in a statement. “We will leverage this funding to recruit top talent, expand Nunu.ai’s infrastructure, and cement our position as a leader in video game QA automation.”

A16z speedrun and Tirta Ventures co-led the round, with participation from Y Combinator and other investors. This funding brings the total amount raised to date to $8 million, following a $2 million pre-seed round in 2024.

“Nunu.ai‘s unembodied AI agents represent a paradigm shift in how we think about testing and automation,” said Ben Feder, managing partner at Tirta Ventures and ex-CEO of Take-Two Interactive. “We’re excited to support Nunu.ai’s adaptable AI agents.” 

Cofounder Jan Schnyder said in a statement, “We believe the pathway to embodied AI goes through gaming.” 

The company’s cofounders — Schnyder, Hux, and Nicolas Muntwyler — met in 2017 during a lecture at ETH Zurich. While students, they worked on multiple projects, one of which eventually evolved into Nunu.ai.

As video game development scales to unprecedented levels, so do testing challenges. For instance, GTA 6’s budget reportedly exceeds  $2 billion, while Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War cost $700 million. Testing these increasingly complex games is both time-consuming and expensive. Game developers allocate approximately 10% of their budget to Quality Assurance (QA), relying heavily on expensive manual, repetitive testing.

Efforts to automate QA have traditionally fallen short. Studios typically depend on automation scripts that frequently break during game updates, leading to constant maintenance headaches, higher costs, and loss of valuable time.

Studios also use manual QA, which requires people to be on task, on point, and available. Nuni.ai offers an alternative: developers can integrate our Nunu.ai’s AI agents and use natural language commands to direct them to perform tasks in the game. In one video demonstration, the agent completed the tutorial of Hogwarts Legacy after being given simple instructions.

“Our goal is to 10x QA engineers by automating the boring and tedious testing tasks, freeing them up to do more valuable ad-hoc testing,” said cofounder Nicolas Muntwyler, in a statement.

Several game studios use the Nunu.ai platform to run hundreds of automated tests monthly, 24/7. The technology can benefit both large and small studios.

As an experiment, the company said it ported its tech stack onto a real-life quadruped robot and commanded it to perform real-life tasks like retrieving a Coca-Cola bottle from a table and checking the fridge for bananas. While the immediate focus remains on video game testing, Nunu.ai sees potential for the technology in robotics and beyond.

As Nunu.ai continues to work across all gaming platforms, the company aims to expand its technology into real-world applications. With game engines evolving into advanced physics engines, Nunu.ai’s AI agents are poised to navigate both virtual and real-world environments, driving the future of AI-driven solutions, the company said.