GPT-4 created a playable version of Pong in under 60 seconds

By Giovanni Colantonio Published March 15, 2023

GPT-4 has only been around for a day, but users are already learning the power of the new AI tool. One user claimed that the bot created a working version of Pong from scratch within 60 seconds.

GPT-4 is the latest AI model from OpenAI, the research group behind ChatGPT. It’s a Large Language Model (LLM) trained on data up to 2021 that can understand prompts and respond to them in natural language. It’s currently only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, though the tech is already being used to power tools like Microsoft’s Bing Chat service. After a day of tooling around, users have discovered that the powerful tool is capable of generating fully working code for games.

Pietro Schirano, design lead at financial company Brex, tweeted that he was able to get GPT-4 to create a working version of Pong in under 60 seconds. To accomplish that, he didn’t need to say much. After telling the bot that he wanted to create a “Pong-like game,” it quickly spit out some basic HTML and JavaScript as an example. That code produced a fully working version of Pong, minus the scoreboard.

https://twitter.com/skirano/status/1635736107949195278

That isn’t the only game GPT-4 has generated thus far. Schirano similarly was able to get a working version of Breakout through similar means, as well as a rudimentary clone of Asteroids. Others have shared AI-created versions of Snake, Connect 4, and more.

Though the feat is impressive, it does deepen some debates about AI’s potential role in game development. Earlier this month, a ChatGPT user got the bot to generate an “original” puzzle game called Sumplete. Digital Trends soon discovered that multiple versions of Sumplete already exist, raising questions about how it “invented” the game. More troubling, we were able to get ChatGPT to “plagiarize” its own code for Sumplete by simply asking for it to generate a game with the same name.

GPT-4’s ability to recreate existing games could put the AI model down a slippery slope moving forward. At what point does it gain the ability to output code for more complex games like Super Mario Bros.? Could that create a legal problem for OpenAI down the road? At the rate the tech is evolving, we may find out soon.

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Giovanni Colantonio

Section Editor, Gaming

Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…

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