Google can generate playable 3D game worlds from AI prompts [Video]

It took just a few years for AI art to evolve from text to 2D imagery to generated 3D video. Today, it’s taken the next step with Google’s Genie 2, which can generate playable 3D game worlds that are constructed on the fly, all from a simple text prompt.

Google’s Genie 2 is the evolution of its Generative Interactive Environments, which uses AI to construct new, interactive environments on the fly. Genie 1, which Google released in February, could construct 2D environments. Now, Genie 2, which Google announced today, takes that into 3D space.

Google calls Genie 2 a “world model,” which means it can simulate virtual worlds, with animations, physics, and object interactions. It’s a two-step process: Genie 2 requires a prompt image to extrapolate into a world, but that image can be itself generated by an ordinary text prompt. Want a cyberpunk Western? Genie 2 will create it. A sailing simulation? That, too. You just need a reference …