Google’s DeepMind has unveiled Genie 3, an AI model that can generate interactive 3D worlds from simple text prompts, allowing users to navigate environments with mouse and keyboard controls. This represents a significant leap toward AI-generated video games, with the technology capable of maintaining visual consistency for several minutes while responding to user actions and real-time prompt modifications.
Key improvements over Genie 2: The latest version delivers substantial upgrades from its December predecessor, which was limited to 360p resolution and 10-20 second interactions.
- Genie 3 now operates at 720p resolution with extended interaction periods lasting several minutes.
- Users can perform actions within the environment, such as painting walls with a brush.
- The system maintains visual consistency throughout longer gameplay sessions.
Interactive prompt features: Beyond basic world generation, Genie 3 introduces dynamic content modification through “promptable events.”
- Users can request additions like “a man wearing a chicken suit” or “a flying dragon” during gameplay.
- The AI seamlessly integrates these new elements into the existing 3D environment.
- This creates what DeepMind describes as a “Star Trek holodeck” experience within a PC.
Broader applications: While gaming represents the most obvious use case, DeepMind envisions wider implementation across multiple sectors.
- Educational applications could provide immersive learning environments.
- Worker training programs, including robotics training, could benefit from customizable 3D scenarios.
- The technology demonstrates impressive physics rendering across both fictional and real-world environments.
Current limitations: Despite its advances, Genie 3 still faces several technical challenges that DeepMind acknowledges need resolution.
- Visual consistency degrades beyond a few minutes of interaction.
- Overall visual quality requires improvement for commercial applications.
- “Accurately modeling complex interactions between multiple independent agents in shared environments is still an ongoing research challenge,” DeepMind notes.
- Hardware requirements and world generation timeframes remain undisclosed.
Industry context: The development arrives as other tech giants explore AI-powered game creation, particularly Microsoft’s recent experiments in the space.
- Generative AI could revolutionize character interactions and procedural generation in gaming.
- However, the technology faces controversy over potential job displacement and concerns about game quality dilution.
Availability and testing: Genie 3 remains in early testing phases with limited access.
- DeepMind has granted early access “to a small cohort of academics and creators.”
- The research lab plans to expand the testing pool gradually over time.
- No timeline has been provided for broader public availability.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...