Less than a week after Google showed off Project Genie, an AI world model-powered tool that allows users to generate interactive 3D experiences with data, Roblox is sharing some early ideas about how it wants to use AI world models and data to allow creators to generate experiences and change them in real time — something it calls “real-time dreaming.”
In the virtual forum, Roblox SVP of engineering Anupam Singh was shown The Verge an example of what real-time dreaming might look like using recorded video. In a short demo, an AI-generated viking-themed world responded in real-time to input that added a tsunami wave and a boat for the viking character to ride. You can see what appears to be the same demo I showed in this video featuring Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki.
Roblox’s real-time dreams are still in the “research” phase, said Karun Channa, the product’s executive director. The Vergeand there is no timeline for when the tools will be available. I haven’t been able to try dreaming in real time, so I can’t prove how well the experience would work now in practice. The experience I had with Project Genie last week wasn’t very good, and although Roblox’s demo showed real-time changes (which Project Genie can’t do), I still doubt that the ability to change the experience on the fly on cue will make a meaningful difference in how fun it will be.
“The next frontier of creativity on Roblox is the continuous AI-driven evolution of our creative platform that will allow creators to create immersive environments, learn, debug, and collaborate with their teams using natural language information,” Singh said in a blog post. “If a person can dream it, he must be able to live it.”
But Roblox doesn’t envision these kinds of AI world model tools taking over traditional game development entirely. Singh said The Verge that making a game requires a creative mind, and “we don’t see a model replacing that creative element.” (A Take-Two executive said the same thing yesterday in an earnings call.)
Today, Roblox is also introducing “4D creation” tools that developers can integrate into their games so players can prompt the AI to do things they can interact with. Previously, those tools were in closed beta, but now they will be in open beta, and will allow you to create things that you drive, fly, or shoot yourself.
You can get an idea of what developers can do with the tools in an experience called Wish Master, which is already in use. To use the new “4D” tools, you have to select them from a selector menu similar to what you would find in a traditional AI dialog.
After a few minutes of youth, I didn’t find producing things in the experience very interesting. The World of Wish Master is mostly a big open space for people to produce things and come in and roam around, so there wasn’t much I could do with the things after I made them.
