Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘AI, make me a video game’ 

a teen sits in front of a computer looking at a screen with a video game scene AI-generated by Oasis, featuring a Minecraft-like pig. The teen is wearing a black, white and cream tie-dyed hoodie. They have dark brown curly hair and dark skin. Although the room is dark, there are rgb lights behind the monitor and along the wall illuminating the gaming space.

AI can now generate Minecraft worlds. You can try this out with an online demo called Oasis. The AI has no game rules or maps. Instead, it learned from millions of hours of people playing Minecraft. It draws each new frame of the game based on what you’re looking at now and the actions you take.

SeventyFour/istock/Getty Images Plus, Oasis; adapted by L. Steenblik Hwang

By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘AI, make me a video game’

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

  1. Describe a video game you would like to make. What genre would best describe this game? Would it be single-player or multiplayer? What would a player do in this game — for example, would it have puzzles to solve? Briefly describe the graphics style you would choose and what a player would see as they played this game. Imagine a computer could read your description and write this game for you. If a computer wrote this game’s code, to what extent would you feel that you created the game? Briefly explain your answer.
  2. To the best of your understanding, explain how artificial intelligence (AI) generates “art.” Do you consider images or music created by AI to be art? Why or why not?

During Reading:

  1. What was one of the problems with the first version of the AI-generated Pac-Man game?
  2. What kind of entity is Angelina?
  3. Identify one similarity between Angelina and Puck. Point out one difference.
  4. Describe the role of AI in the video game Inworld Origins.
  5. What does Roblox Cube allow people to do?
  6. What video game did developers use to train the Oasis demo?
  7. What is a world model?
  8. What was the original goal of the Genie 2 project?
  9. Which was created first, Bleeding Edge or Muse? How do you know?
  10. Give an example of how Matt Guzdial imagines teachers might use AI-enabled video game tools.

After Reading:

  1. This story mentions that AI game-designer technology angers some human creators. Briefly explain what complaint a human creator might have with this technology. Use a scenario from this story to explain how someone might take issue with how this technology generates content. To what extent do you believe this is a valid criticism? Explain your answer in one or two sentences.
  2. Besides entertainment, what is another way that the AI tools described in this story might be used to help people in the future? Feel free to be creative! Briefly describe how you imagine a person would use this technology, and explain how it might improve their life. Point to one AI tool from this story that we might use to develop this technology.