Deepmind invests in Eve Online: Sci-fi game becomes an AI training camp

Google’s AI laboratory Deepmind is investing in the Icelandic development studio Fenris Creations. The goal: The sci-fi simulation game Eve Online is intended to be used as a research environment for AI models. The exact amount of the investment is not known. The studio had previously bought itself out of publisher Pearl Abyss for $120 million and renamed itself from CCP Games to Fenris Creations.

The cooperation is intended to deepen the understanding of intelligence in complex, dynamic systems, according to a press release from Fenris Creations. Deepmind examines long-term planning, memory and continuous learning of AI systems.

What does Eve Online as AI-Labor interesting?

Eve Online lets players go their own way in a simulated universe. The online game, in which thousands of players act simultaneously in a shared world, not only depicts huge space battles. It also models an economic system, politics and virtual societies.

Players form alliances to control star systems. They wage war to expand their empires. Logistics, trade and espionage play a role. The developers don’t specify that. The community builds it dynamically.

AI initially only plays offline

However, anyone hoping to be able to interact with AIs in the game will be disappointed: Deepmind does not initially play on live servers. The AI ​​system used is limited to a local version of the simulation. Players do not have to fear AI interference in the game.

Games have been at the center of many Deepmind breakthroughs. These include the computer game AI Atari DQN, the Go game system AlphaGo and AlphaStar, writes Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis in the statement. They are the “perfect training ground” for developing and testing AI algorithms. The plan is to continue exploring new games and advance AI research safely in a virtual universe as complex as Eve Online.