Briefly, the plot of the TV series “Westworld” is revolving around a big simulation video game. The hosts/characters in Westworld are created using AI and are designed to look and behave like humans. These characters are programmed to follow storylines and narratives within the map, but as they begin to learn more, their behavior becomes more unpredictable (in a destructive manner).
This TV show got me wondering: How far away are we from almost-instantaneously generated video games? And as my imagination was working, the answer was sooner and sooner. On a very broad scale the generative AI would only need to utilize several different aspects: Programming, story-telling, and video creation. We currently have a lot of story-telling AI’s, that can generate amazing and accurate stories given some prompts, and they are only going to get better and better. Video creation and code generation is still catching up, but also rapidly improving. So, on an individual level, but more precisely, in my imagination at the moment, it seemed very prosperous. However, combining these three together and relying on the AI to interpret itself and write code for the gameplay is abnormally difficult. Then it became obvious how far away this scenario actually is, but it still did not seem impossible to happen.
If anything, a lot things can be learned from the Westworld show. Most notably, the characters/hosts are physically created as robots and the map is a physical place. Hence, it is a kind of blend of VR and AR. Today however, this scenario is much more possible as it could be utilized in a completely VR setting.
In essence, generative AI can follow a similar path in which traditional media did. First came books and plays (theatre), then the radio, them the television (first no colour, then in colour), and then interactive games in 2D and then in 3D. With AI, it is currently very much developing its storytelling, and if other aspects will soon follow as well, the sky could be the limit. What do you think? Is this scenario possible? Or, are the expectations even too low?
