As a result of research, this AI is able to automate the development of new video games based on existing examples.
Artificial intelligence is about task automation. It’s actually as simple as this. So simple if it’s repetitive tasks or a limited pattern search. The more complex these tasks, the worse the technology responds. And one of the aspects that he has the most difficulty covering is creativity.
This quality, linked to human beings, although it could be said that it is also inherent in any living being, which tries to seek any possible path to survival, has always been a barrier for machines. However, it is a quality that also trains. We’ve seen it with some examples recently, and the last one comes from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
A team of researchers has decided to put some algorithms based on machine learning to develop a video game. AI took input in the form of levels from other video games and he turned them into new scenarios, with their own objects and rules.
The system takes on the one hand the graphic part of a video game, such as the images of the protagonists, backgrounds or animated frames. Then it takes information about a level, a scenario, along with a set of rules. And then mix these swallowed information.
The researchers did the test with the Mario Bros and Kirby’s Adventure (whose protagonist is that pink ball that phagocites its enemies). The mix of the two had to result in something similar to the Mega Man title. And the result was able to exceed the expectations of those responsible for the project, in terms of generation of levels.
Artificial intelligence and video games
It’s a small step, but it marks a path for automation. Although AI is no stranger to video games. As in any application that has a complex level of operation, programmers pull automation techniques for development.
Artificial intelligence is used in video games especially on popular engines, such as Unity. Some heavy programming burdens are tackled with the creation of an algorithm, which automates certain parts of the software.
But it is also that they have already made tests of artificial intelligence playing. If we think about it, this is nothing new. Algorithms have been playing video games almost since the beginning of these. The game mode in which “the machine” made the movements, whether it was a fight scenario, an arcade or any other are just algorithms programmed to act and react.
However, there are researchers who have put artificial intelligence models to play video games in order to see how much they could learn. These are experiments, but they give an idea of how far the adaptive capacity of AI can go.
Images: Jason Leung, Jorge Antonio Gutierrez Martinez
