Why Google Uses Video Games to Test AI Chatbot

Published: December 13, 2024

Why Google Uses Video Games to Test AI Chatbot

By Movieguide® Contributor

Google recently released the newest iteration of its AI chatbot Gemini, and the company will use video games to help show how powerful the technology is.

“We’ve built agents using Gemini 2.0 that can help you navigate the virtual world of video games,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and DeepMind CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu wrote in a blog post. “It can reason about the game based solely on the action on the screen, and offer up suggestions for what to do next in a real time conversation.”

The company is testing the tech using popular strategy game “Clash of Clans” and cozy farm simulator “Hay Day.”

“Beyond acting as virtual gaming companions, these agents can even tap into Google Search to connect you with the wealth of gaming knowledge on the web,” the blog post continued.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Google (@google)

Google first revealed its intention to create AI agents that can play video games last spring. At the time, the company explained that the goal is to create an agent that can follow players’ commands, rather than a bot that excels at winning a certain game.

“SIMA isn’t trained to win a game; it’s trained to run it and do what it’s told,” explained Tim Harley, a Google DeepMind researcher and SIMA co-lead.

In March, SIMA was able to perform roughly 600 distinct actions when commanded by a player such as climbing a ladder or opening up a map. The team believes that training the tech on video games will help them understand how to refine it for the real world.

“Ultimately, our research is building towards more general AI systems and agents that can understand and safely carry out a wide range of tasks in a way that is helpful to people online and in the real world,” researchers said.

However, it is unclear if gamers will embrace the use of this technology, especially if it does not provide them with an advantage over their competitors. Many gamers partake in the pastime for the sake of engaging with friends or making new friends. Playing games with an AI bot would remove this aspect of gaming, something that many players might reject. Nonetheless, AI is sure to revolutionize the gaming industry, even if it isn’t through the method Google is pursuing.