Terminological systems of digital assistants and gaming companions: evolution, comparative analysis and classifications

The subject of the study is a set of terms, concepts and lexical groups used to describe digital and neural network assistants (‘Alice’, ‘Salyut family’, Siri, Google Assistant, etc.), game companions (Paymon, Eliza, Cortana, etc.) and agents (NPCs, AI-directors, etc.), their functionality and typology (division into hybrid systems, degree of autonomy, interaction with users and players, types of interaction and scope of application). The relevance of the research lies in the need for a systematic analysis of the dynamically developing terminology related to digital and gaming assistants in the context of rapid technical evolution. The study recovers a gap in the study of terminological systems emerging at the intersection of the gaming industry and AI-technologies. The emergence of new categories of names demonstrates the need for constant monitoring of terminology in these multimodal areas. The convergence and separation of terminological systems of the digital and gaming fields allows us to talk about the scientific novelty of the material under study, since the future trend is marked by the specialization of terms, the convergence of gaming and digital assistants, and the emergence of new categories as technology develops. The terminological system of digital assistants retains the conceptual framework laid down by gaming analogues but significantly expands and refines it in accordance with the needs of the non-gaming world. The main conclusion of the study is that the two terminological systems are moving closer and further away from each other due to the influence of technical terminology on the digital sphere, but they have many common names and naming concepts, the basis of which is hidden in the basic terminology of the playing field. The unification of terms is critical for developers, linguists, and localizers working with cross-platform projects.