Google DeepMind's Genie, an AI game maker

[Free]

Google’s Genie game maker is what happens when AI watches 30K hrs of video games

Researchers herald new system as key step to an "infinite generator" of training data.

arstechnica.com

At this point, anyone who follows generative AI is used to tools that can generate passive, consumable content in the form of text, images, video, and audio. Google DeepMind's recently unveiled Genie model (for "GENerative Interactive Environment") does something altogether different, converting images into "interactive, playable environments that can be easily created, stepped into, and explored."

DeepMind's Genie announcement page shows plenty of sample GIFs of simple platform-style games generated from static starting images (children's sketches, real-world photographs, etc.) or even text prompts passed through ImageGen2. While those slick-looking GIFs gloss over some major current limitations that are discussed in the full research paper, AI researchers are still excited about how Genie's generalizable "foundational world modeling" could help supercharge machine learning going forward.

Before you get too excited about being able to generate endless platformers from nothing but rough sketches, there are some important limitations to keep in mind. Most significantly, the system currently only runs at one frame per second, which is at least 20 to 30 times slower than what would be needed for something that could be considered playable in real time. Sample GIFs that show much smoother animation over a few frames are just splicing together a series of frames that would take significant chunks of a minute to generate in real time.

The Genie team also admits that the system "can hallucinate unrealistic futures," much like other AI models. You can see this clearly in some of the sample GIFs the Genie team has shared, including one where two flying birds collapse into a single entity or another where a character seems to start floating rather than falling to the ground after a simple jump.

Basically, it's a work in progress.

 

[Khamon]

When are AIs going to incorporate a sense of community into world building and game design?

I suspect never. That's what I think.