Google’s new AI agent learns to play video games

According to The Verge, Google DeepMind’s new AI agent called SIMA 2 has learned to play multiple video games including No Man’s Sky, Valheim, and Goat Simulator 3. This builds on the original SIMA (Scalable Instructable Multiworld Agent) that DeepMind released in March 2024. The new version incorporates Google’s Gemini AI for the first time, allowing it to understand high-level goals and perform complex reasoning in games it hasn’t even seen before. DeepMind is currently releasing SIMA 2 to some academics and developers as a limited research preview. Senior staff research scientist Jane Wang described gaming as “a really great training ground” for potentially transferring skills to real-world environments.

Gaming is just the beginning

Here’s the thing that really stands out about this announcement: they’re not actually trying to build the ultimate gaming companion. That’s just the testing ground. The real goal, as DeepMind researchers openly admit, is using these virtual environments to train AI for real-world applications. Think about it – if an AI can navigate the unpredictable chaos of Goat Simulator 3, what could it do in a factory or warehouse setting?

The AGI connection

Research scientist Joe Marino called SIMA 2’s ability to handle unseen environments “fundamental” toward AGI. And he’s not wrong. The jump from following specific instructions to understanding high-level goals and reasoning through them is massive. This isn’t just about getting better at games – it’s about creating AI that can adapt to novel situations without extensive retraining. That’s the holy grail everyone’s chasing in the AI race between Google, Meta, OpenAI, and others.

What this means for the future

So where does this actually lead? Well, the researchers specifically mentioned robotics and “AI-embodiment” as the next frontiers. Basically, they’re proving these concepts in safe virtual worlds before potentially moving to physical systems. The ability to transfer learning from simulation to reality could revolutionize how we develop everything from manufacturing robots to autonomous systems. It’s fascinating to watch this unfold in real time – these gaming experiments might seem trivial, but they’re laying the groundwork for technologies that could transform entire industries.