New AI model can hallucinate a game of 1993’s Doom in real time

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

On Tuesday, researchers from Google and Tel Aviv University unveiled GameNGen, a new AI model that can interactively simulate the classic 1993 first-person shooter game Doom in real time using AI image generation techniques borrowed from Stable Diffusion. It’s a neural network system that can function as a limited game engine, potentially opening new possibilities for real-time video game synthesis in the future.

For example, instead of drawing graphical video frames using traditional techniques, future games could potentially use an AI engine to “imagine” or hallucinate graphics in real time as a prediction task.

“The potential here is absurd,” wrote app developer Nick Dobos in reaction to the news. “Why write complex rules for software by hand when the AI can just think every pixel for you?”