AI-powered Super Mario

February 24, 2023

A group of developers from the University of Copenhagen succeeded in developing a form of artificial intelligence (AI) capable of creating new levels for the legendary Super Mario Bros game, to the delight of users.

Based on OpenAI’s GPT-2 technology, this solution has, so far, only been powered by data from the game Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels released in 1986. Despite its retro look, the result is impressive.

Playfully named MarioGPT, this AI is still in its infancy and works on explicit written prompts. You have to detail what you want to see in the levels that will be created. Using MarioGPT is not as easy and accessible as using ChatGPT, as you need to have some knowledge of code (Python 3.8). That’s why its creators have put a dedicated guide on the GitHub platform to help anyone interested in creating their own game levels.

According to its developers, MarioGPT is already capable of generating diverse and mostly playable environments, therefore of improving the quality of the game.

NST