Those smart opponents in video games that seem to think on their feet are powered by artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies help create characters and challenges that adapt and respond quickly, ensuring an engaging experience for gamers.

In the past, researchers have used video games to train and test AI algorithms, with some of the most high-profile examples being the space-exploring No Man’s Sky, the problem-solving Teardown, and the Sikkim Game app. The hope is that once an AI system proves its mettle in these virtual environments, it can be applied to real-world efficiencies in areas like autonomous vehicles and data science.

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But AI also makes gaming more interesting. From advanced pathfinding and behavior trees to natural language processing and reinforcement learning, game AI creates more realistic, human-like experiences.

The most common applications of game AI involve non-player characters (NPCs) interacting with the player. NPCs are intelligently modeled using AI techniques such as decision trees, finite state machines or neural networks. Adaptive NPCs and enemy opponents are enabled by reinforcement learning, where the AI learns from its mistakes through trial-and-error.

In addition, AI can generate new levels, unique environments, and challenging challenges to ensure endless content that keeps players coming back for more. Procedural generation can also produce game elements such as NPCs, quests and missions based on the player’s progress and interaction with the world. All of this is possible thanks to advancing AI that is able to analyze the environment, understand its context and interact with the player in a more dynamic and interactive manner.