University students and researchers have been training AI agents to master complex strategic video games, an area believed to be a key training ground for the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI).
At a lab inside the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, which locates in the southwestern city of Chengdu, AI agents are trained on "Honor of Kings," a hit game that has become wildly popular in esports circles. Students in the lab place the AI in various scenarios in attempts to have it optimize play.
"What we mostly do now is to work with students on game-related tech, combining it with AI, and using that to solve different kinds of problems," said Xie Ning, a professor of the School of Computer Science and Engineering under the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
According to the researchers, experiments teaching AI to play complex games lays the groundwork for training it to operate in realistic environments.
"With a game engine, we could build environments that mirror the real world. What people used to call the 'metaverse', or something like that. We run simulations and do research in these 'parallel worlds', then use that to build world models and test our AI algorithms. Once these AI algorithms are proven effective, we deploy them in real-world industrial systems," said Liu Zhitao, a research assistant of the School of Computer Science and Engineering.
"What we hope to do is to take the research from universities and push it into broader real-world use. It's basically what China has been talking about, turning scientific achievements into something that actually lands in the real world," Xie said.
Though the vision might sound far-fetched, the professor emphasized that video game-based research has already resulted in many AI breakthroughs that have reshaped industries.
"In fact, this now also includes smart city management, digital twin factories, and immersive operations systems, which all grew out of game tech. Now they're being used to power smart manufacturing, city management, and other industries," Xie said.
Since China's 14th Five-Year-Plan (2021-2025) called for the digital transformation of cultural industries, video games, as a powerful cultural medium, have carried works inspired by traditional Chinese culture to audiences worldwide.
As China enters the first year of its 15th Five-Year-Plan (2026-2030), AI has moved to the center of national development, and the gaming industry is gaining new significance in the rise of AI.
AI trained to play video games in stepping stone to real world applications
