{"621721":{"#nid":"621721","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AIs and Humans Become \u2018Creative Equals\u2019 with New Design Tool","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers have created software with a built-in AI agent that works alongside human designers in real time to create game levels. The software, dubbed MorAI Maker in a nod to Nintendo\u0026rsquo;s game Mario Maker, uses new machine learning techniques for game content generation that allows humans and an\u0026nbsp;AI agent\u0026nbsp;to work in a turn-based fashion on the same digital canvas. This is the first such tool of its kind.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough two studies with more than 100 game hobbyists and practicing game developers, the Georgia Tech team found that people varied significantly in how they used the AI.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We did not explicitly structure any roles into our machine learning models, but we still found that users naturally projected different roles onto the same AI and took corresponding roles,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Cstrong\u003EMatthew Guzdial\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student in computer science and lead researcher.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to researchers, after refining the machine learning model, the AI agent was capable of picking up on users\u0026rsquo; preferences for level structures. A majority of game developers reported that they would use the AI co-designer in the software, which was developed in Unity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers observed four major categories of roles that people assigned their virtual partners.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome participants viewed the AI as a friend. One participant prompted the AI to begin the level design, forfeiting her own turn and stating, \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s see what my friend comes up with.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome participants wanted an equal design partner (collaborator), others seemed to expect the AI to adhere to their specific design beliefs or instructions (student), and some designers followed the AI\u0026rsquo;s lead or expected to be evaluated on their design (manager).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Human designers in the study demonstrated a willingness to adapt their own design practices to the AI, sometimes as a means of attempting to determine how best to interact with it,\u0026rdquo; said Guzdial.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EConversely, every participant had at least one interaction where the AI adapted to the human designs. For some, this was the exception rather than the rule. \u0026ldquo;The [AI] agent placed objects fairly arbitrarily, in places where it didn\u0026rsquo;t really affect gameplay, just looked weird,\u0026rdquo; said another participating professional designer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe AI agent embedded in the game design software was trained on implicit feedback from the user. If a user kept the AI\u0026rsquo;s game level additions, the AI received a \u0026ldquo;reward,\u0026rdquo; and if the user removed them a \u0026ldquo;penalty\u0026rdquo; was given to the AI. The AI was not allowed to remove human-generated elements.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne designer said, \u0026ldquo;It was nice to be surprised by the AI partner. It prompted conversation\/discussion in my head.\u0026rdquo; Another said, \u0026ldquo;I was running out of ideas, then prompted the AI for help, and I said, \u0026lsquo;Oh yeah I forgot about these things!\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDespite mostly positive feedback, not everyone found the tool to be consistently valuable. As one participant put it, \u0026ldquo;I could see using this tool as a way to give myself inspiration. But, if I had more specific goals in mind... I would have found it more inhibiting than useful.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGuzdial says MorAI Maker is intended as a design aide, not as a replacement for designers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The AI system is developed in favor of augmenting, not replacing, creative work,\u0026rdquo; he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe full research,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/1901.06417.pdf\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFriend, collaborator, student, manager: How design of an AI-driven game level editor affects creators\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, is published in the 2019 Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Humans Factors in Computing Systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. IIS-1525967. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Video Game Developers Use an AI partner In Wildly Different Ways, From Friend to Boss"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWill video game developers welcome AI assistance in their workflow? In short, yes, and in wildly different ways, based on research from Georgia Tech published this month.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Will video game developers welcome AI assistance in their workflow? In short, yes, and in wildly different ways, based on research from Georgia Tech published this month. "}],"uid":"27592","created_gmt":"2019-05-16 11:37:38","changed_gmt":"2019-08-12 14:50:52","author":"Joshua Preston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-05-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-05-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"621722":{"id":"621722","type":"image","title":"MorAI Maker Game Design Tool","body":null,"created":"1558007459","gmt_created":"2019-05-16 11:50:59","changed":"1558007477","gmt_changed":"2019-05-16 11:51:17","alt":"","file":{"fid":"236823","name":"MorAI Maker creations.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/MorAI%20Maker%20creations.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/MorAI%20Maker%20creations.png","mime":"image\/png","size":706743,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/MorAI%20Maker%20creations.png?itok=KbhL0f1q"}}},"media_ids":["621722"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UkMeM5Ty1lA\u0026feature=youtu.be\u0026t=563","title":"VIDEO: Early Interaction with AI Creative Partner"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/user\/10751784\/tu-ep6-video-game-devs-react-to-ai","title":"Tech Unbound Podcast EP6: Video Game Developers React in Wildly Different Ways to AI-Enabled Software"}],"groups":[{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"},{"id":"576481","name":"ML@GT"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jpreston@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Preston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nResearch Communications Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cem\u003ECollege of Computing and GVU Center\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}