As part of the Google I/O 2023 event, a fun and experimental side of artificial intelligence was revealed with the launch of I/O FLIP, a card game designed by generative AI. This game, developed by Google, combines the excitement of card clashes with the creativity of artificial intelligence, allowing players to experiment with unique and personalized decks of cards.
I/O FLIP: A twist on the classic card game
I/O FLIP is an innovative take on a classic card game, where players compete in a series of matchups to achieve the longest winning streak on the leaderboard. However, in this case, players use custom cards generated by artificial intelligence.
The operation of I/O FLIP is simple. Players choose two characteristics for their cards: a class, such as a wizard, and a special power, such as invisibility. A deck of 12 cards inspired by the player’s selections will appear, including unique characters, backgrounds, and randomly assigned items and strengths. Once the three favorite cards are chosen, the battle for victory begins.
The creation of letters using artificial intelligence
The creation of the custom charts in I/O FLIP involved the use of technologies developed by Google Research. For this, own character designs were used as training data. First, Muse, a text-to-image AI model, was used to generate thousands of unique images. Next, DreamBooth, a Muse-based technique that allowed text-to-image models to be customized to generate novel images of a specific theme, was applied.
To further enrich the card descriptions, hundreds of thousands of text descriptions were generated using the PaLM API. Ultimately, these generative AI tools were integrated with Google developer tools such as Flutter, Dart, Firebase, and Google Cloud to create the interface and game mechanics, quickly bringing I/O FLIP to life. In short, each custom deck of cards is the result of millions of pre-generated text and image combinations.
A look at the process and open source
The process of creating I/O FLIP was a joint effort involving advanced technologies and development tools from Google. The combination of Muse, DreamBooth, and the PaLM API enabled the generation of unique images and detailed descriptions for each card in the game. These artificial intelligence tools were integrated with Flutter, Dart, Firebase, and Google Cloud to develop the interface and game mechanics.
Google has shared the source code for I/O FLIP as an open source project, allowing developers to explore and understand how the game was created using these AI technologies. This not only promotes transparency in the development process, but also encourages collaboration and innovation in the field of artificial intelligence applied to games.
The open source of I/O FLIP provides the opportunity for other developers to explore and experiment with the technologies used, which could lead to the creation of new games and applications based on content generation by artificial intelligence. Additionally, by sharing source code, Google promotes the developer community and encourages the sharing of knowledge and best practices.
