ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence in gaming IT’S THE TALK OF THE CONFERENCE CIRCUIT BUT WHAT ARE THE APPLICATIONS OF A.I. IN THE WORLD OF LAND-BASED AND ONLINE GAMBLING? PHIL SAVAGE REPORTS .
T he launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 catapulted Artificial Intelligence into public consciousness. Depending on who we choose to believe, the apparently limitless power of AI represents either the brightest future imaginable or the gravest threat to mankind. Amid the hype and hyperbole, there are three areas where most commentators agree: we are at an inflection point – we will look back on this period as the time when everything changed; no area of human activity is likely to go untouched by AI; and most applications of the technology have yet to be thought of or developed. As a highly technology driven sector, gaming is already in the vanguard of AI adoption and there are companies who have been investing in applications for years for whom the surge of interest is likely to be a game changer. A quick glance at the conference programs of this autumn’s industry events shows there is no shortage of people promoting AI-driven applications or prepared to unwrap their crystal balls and predict the future. This article is an attempt to capture the consensus views as to how AI will impact the gaming industry and the legal and regulatory challenges that will follow.
Big data: patterns and human behavior Most commentators agree that ChatGPT and similar generative AI products represent quite a basic use of the technology (by some definitions, they are not, strictly speaking, AI products at all). Producing A-grade essays on any subject in seconds is astounding and will be a challenge for universities or school examiners, but it is not truly intelligent. At this relatively embryonic stage, the power of AI is its ability to process vast quantities of data in timeframes that are completely beyond the reach of humans. Not only can it parse the data, it can extract useful patterns from it. It can spot variations in behavior and correlate these with behaviors which fall outside the range of what its instructors deem normal, providing its own list of data points which it can then use to spot abnormal behavior in future. AI algorithms have already been developed which can detect signs of unusual patterns in online gambling which indicate likely money laundering and fraud. Data points derived from the decision-making processes followed by psychologists can also be used to detect problem gambling. Where these systems have been deployed, the results concur
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IMGL MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 2023
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