Xiaoyu Zhan and Nanjing University figured out how to build AI characters from modular components:

We posit that linguistic style can be conceptually and functionally decoupled from cognitive tendencies in dialogues, which are largely shaped by personality and memory.

Creating believable AI characters has been a monolithic nightmare. Either spend ages crafting the perfect prompt or fine-tune an entire model, treating identity as one big indivisible blob.

This paper proposes something much more elegant: modular identity architecture.

Instead of holistic personas, they built composable identity. Three independent components: personality, memory, and linguistic style. Mix and match.

It's like building characters from Lego blocks instead of carving them from stone. Remarkably elegant design pattern.

The process is clever: first determine what to say based on personality and memory. Then enrich with facts for consistency. Finally, apply the linguistic style - how to say it.

Style becomes a swappable layer, not part of core reasoning. Like having the same thought expressed by different people.

This points toward libraries of interchangeable personalities, memories, and styles. Instead of crafting individual characters, you architect systems that can assemble countless characters on demand.

How do you design for identity that reconfigures in real-time? We're moving from writing characters to engineering the components of their souls.

Sounds profound and slightly unsettling. What happens when identity becomes just another API?