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Smart Zoi
February 10, 2026 at 08:03 AM
Full rewrite with NVIDIA ACE partnership, technical requirements, mental elements, inner thoughts, schedule system, and known issues
Smart Zoi is an experimental AI feature that gives Zois a degree of independent decision-making. Instead of waiting for player direction or following simple behavioral scripts, a Smart Zoi actively thinks about what to do next based on its personality traits, recent experiences, relationships, and current needs. The system was developed in partnership with NVIDIA and uses their ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) technology. inZOI is the first game to ship with AI-powered NPCs using NVIDIA ACE, which NVIDIA calls "Co-Playable Character" AI tech.
At its core, Smart Zoi uses a Small Language Model (SLM) that runs on-device rather than in the cloud. This model processes information about the Zoi's current state and generates decisions about what the Zoi should do next. The Zoi "asks questions" to the AI model internally, and the model's responses guide the Zoi's behavior and daily schedule.
Every Zoi in inZOI is composed of over 400 mental elements. These include personality traits, preferences, emotional states, memories, relationships, skills, and desired lives. When Smart Zoi is enabled, the AI model weighs all of these elements when making decisions. A Zoi with high creativity and a love of music might decide to practice instruments in the morning, while a social Zoi with many friends might prioritize phone calls and visits.
One of the most distinctive parts of Smart Zoi is the ability to examine a Zoi's "inner thoughts." These are text displays that show what the AI model is processing: what the Zoi is considering, why it made a particular choice, and what it plans to do next. Thought bubbles appear above the Zoi's head during gameplay.
For example, a Smart Zoi might think "I'm tired but I really want to finish this painting" before deciding to stay up late. Or it might think "I haven't talked to my neighbor in a while" before walking over to start a conversation. The inner thoughts make the AI decision-making transparent rather than opaque.
Smart Zois create and adjust their own daily schedules. Based on their personality, needs, and recent events, a Smart Zoi decides when to wake up, eat, work, socialize, pursue hobbies, and sleep. The schedule adapts over time. If a Zoi had a bad day at work, it might schedule extra leisure time the following evening. If a relationship ends, the Zoi might spend more time alone.
Players are not locked out of control when Smart Zoi is enabled. You can still direct your Zois manually. Smart Zoi fills in the gaps when you're not giving direct instructions, making idle Zois feel alive rather than standing around waiting for input.
Smart Zoi is disabled by default. To turn it on:
Open the game menu.
Go to Options > Gameplay.
Find the Enable Smart Zoi toggle and turn it on.
The feature requires an active internet connection even though the AI model runs on-device. This may be for authentication, model updates, or telemetry.
Smart Zoi has higher hardware requirements than the base game because the AI model consumes additional GPU and RAM resources. The minimum and recommended specs for Smart Zoi are:
Minimum: NVIDIA RTX 3060 with 8 GB VRAM, 12 GB system RAM.
Recommended: NVIDIA RTX 5070 or RTX 4070 Super with 12 GB VRAM, 16 GB system RAM.
Smart Zoi requires an NVIDIA RTX GPU. AMD graphics cards are not supported. The AI model uses approximately 1 GB of VRAM. When Smart Zoi is enabled, all graphics settings automatically drop by one quality level to compensate for the additional GPU load. See System Requirements for the full hardware specifications across all quality tiers.
Smart Zoi is labeled as experimental. Several known issues exist in the current build:
Late-night schedule failure: If a Zoi stays up too late, the schedule creation process can fail. The Zoi may become stuck without a plan for the next day.
Journal and schedule editing disabled at high speeds: At 5x game speed or higher, the journal and schedule editing interfaces become unresponsive.
Disappearing thought bubbles: Inner thought bubbles can vanish too quickly to read, especially when the Zoi is moving between activities.
Performance lag after 11 PM: When multiple Zois in a household become sleepy around the same time (after 11 PM in-game), the system can lag as the AI model processes schedule decisions for all of them simultaneously.
These issues are expected to improve as the feature matures through Early Access updates. The experimental label indicates that KRAFTON and NVIDIA are actively iterating on the system.
Smart Zoi is one of several AI-powered features in inZOI. The 3D Printer uses image-to-3D AI for creating objects. The Facial Capture system maps real expressions onto Zois. Photo Mode's AI Emote generates poses from uploaded videos or images. The My Texture system in Build Mode uses AI text-to-image for generating custom patterns. Smart Zoi is the most ambitious of these features because it affects moment-to-moment gameplay rather than being a creation tool.
