GDC Vault is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC
This is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Teaching Games with Games X: Artificial Intelligence
From Oxford commas and em dashes to hallucinated quotations and counting fingers, AI is ubiquitous in our inboxes, media feeds, and classrooms. In 2026, it seems there is no stopping how large language models impact the way we design and play games together. After all, games and play have a long and intimate history with artificial intelligence. On one hand Turing's Imitation Game, Weizenbaum's Eliza, and Conway's Game of Life each develop AI in the idiom of games. On the other hand Deep Blue's deep chess searches, AlphaGo's efficient joseki, and OpenAI Five's deathballs in Dota 2 teach us new ways to play. The question then is not only what AI teaches us about games but also what games can teach us about AI. Considering this history, we invite six educators to share a single activity, exercise, technique, or tip that played with or against AI in the classroom.
Did you know free users get access to 30% of content from the last 2 years?
