A neural network has been used to recreate a portion of GTA V.
In video games, artificial intelligence is often used, but it usually refers to behavioral rules that react to the player. In games, enemies aren’t true AI that are actively learning and taking over the world.
However, there are interesting applications involving games that are utilizing powerful, traditional AI. That’s what GAN Theft Auto is trying to do. They have posted a video about their work, which essentially demonstrates an AI ‘mind’ working in Grand Theft Auto V.
It’s a fascinating video, which showcases the bizarre, dream-like version of GTA V. The AI learned the same stretch of road over and over again, including the behavior of cars. None of the code is inputted by humans, purely by AI.
Essentially, the project uses generative adversarial networks, or GANs, to create fake images or data. The image is generated by one neural network, while the other keeps it in check so it doesn’t overreach.
That’s a huge oversimplification of the impressive tech on display here, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what’s going on. Watch the full video for a fuller understanding. To put it simply, you can now play Grand Theft Auto V inside the mind of a computer. It’s a very exciting time.
It’s not a game, but the tech is impressive and opens up the future of game making. While I wouldn’t expect to play fully formed games crafted by AI anytime soon, the applications could be huge to some parts of game design.
As a result of smaller projects like this, AI-assisted games may go even further than ever before in the future.
