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
Rapid developments in advanced industries across China, including AI and robotics, were major topics of discussion at open press interviews on Friday with leading researchers and industry executives serving as deputies to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), currently in its ongoing fourth session.
The NPC, China's top legislature, is holding its annual session from Thursday through March 12.
At a series of open press events, delegations from various parts of the country, including Beijing, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and east China's Jiangxi Province, took questions on how their regions are shaping China's technological progress.
Deng Langni, a deputy to the 14th NPC and vice chairman of Guangxi University of Science and Technology, emphasized that as sources of innovation, universities need to take the initiative and provide strong support for the AI industry's development at the local level.
"The rapid pace of industrial transformation poses serious challenges to traditional disciplines and majors, pushing universities to 'break down walls' and bring classrooms onto industrial chains. Taking Guangxi University of Science and Technology as an example, it has quickly launched a number of AI-related micro-credentials across the campus, enabling students from different majors to gain 'AI thinking' and provide urgently-needed compound talents for industrial upgrading in Guangxi," said Deng.
A deputy from Beijing, Lei Jun, founder of consumer tech giant Xiaomi, offered an optimistic vision on the transformative impact that technological advances will have in manufacturing and industry.
"Sci-tech innovation can accelerate the development of new quality productive forces. Private enterprises have a key advantage in being close to markets and users, responding quickly, and rapidly applying new technologies to real-world scenarios. Humanoid robots have already been deployed in automobile factories, and I believe that, in the coming years, they will enter factories on a large scale," he said.
During the open event hosted by the Jiangxi NPC delegation, deputies said that the province has mapped out six key areas for future industries, including bold new areas such as embodied intelligence, brain-computer interfaces and humanoid robots.
"Many aviation, automotive and equipment manufacturing companies in Jiangxi are using intelligent robots, virtual reality and metaverse technologies to upgrade manufacturing. Workers can remotely operate equipment using immersive interfaces. Over the years, we have been dedicated to researching the key algorithms necessary for the efficient collaboration among embodied intelligent humanoid robots, digital humans and people," said NPC deputy Min Weidong, also the dean of the Metaverse Research Institute at Nanchang University.
Innovation experts from across China highlight accelerated tech deployment
