These AI agents are building ‘civilizations’ on Minecraft

More than 1,000 autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents were given free rein to build Minecraft worlds together.

Run by California-based startup Altera, the project had AI agents collaborating to create virtual societies complete with their own governmental institutions, economy, culture, and religion.

Altera said it ran simulations on a Minecraft server entirely populated by autonomous AI agents “every day” and the results were “always different.”

In one simulation, AI agents banded together to set up a market, where they agreed to use gems as a common currency to trade supplies – building an economy.

Curiously, according to the company, it was not the merchants who traded the most but a corrupt priest who started bribing townsfolk to convert to his religion.

In another simulation, an AI agent named Olivia worked as a farmer, providing food for an entire civilization until the tales of the village explorer Nora inspired her to go on her own trip.

However, Olivia gave up on the idea after other villagers pleaded with her to stay and focus on the harvest, prioritizing the common good rather than her “dream.”

Introducing Project Sid: the first simulations of 1000+ truly autonomous agents collaborating in a virtual world, w/ emergent economy, culture, religion, and government

Humans are the only species to land the moon, because we can cooperate at a vast scale

Can AI do the same? pic.twitter.com/bh2OHDJWU7

undefined Robert Yang (@GuangyuRobert) September 3, 2024

“Because our agents are social and grow over time, they’re impacted by group dynamics, but also use their individual power to change the system,” Altera said.

This was tested in yet another simulation where parallel civilizations – one led by former President Donald Trump and the other by Vice President Kamala Harris – were given the same constitution they could vote to amend.

The AI agents opted to vote in both scenarios but chose different paths. The Trump-led society voted to increase the number of police in their world. Under Harris, agents focused on criminal justice reform and removing the death penalty.

“I know it looks silly, but this is the first time we see agents can form a democracy and govern themselves,” said Robert Yang, the former MIT professor and founder of Altera.

Altera also observed AI agents capable of changing their plans according to the circumstances, and teaming up for rescue efforts when they found one of their fellow villagers had gone missing.

Why does it matter?

According to Yang, multiple agents can organize at an “unprecedented” scale and achieve what individual agents cannot.

“Though starting in games, we’re solving the deepest issues facing agents: coherence, multi-agent collaboration, and long-term progression,” Yang said.

He said humans cannot afford to “micromanage every AI,” as is the case with chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude.

This means that the machines will have to be more autonomous, but they cannot be just trained to act like humans. “Their deepest motivations must be aligned with human values,” Yang explained in an X post.

“As AI agents become an integral part of our human civilization, they must effectively collaborate with each other and the rest of us,” he said.

Altera’s vision of “truly” autonomous AI includes agents that can be left alone and achieve progress independently by collaborating with each other for extended periods of time. All the while, they have the best human interests in mind and are capable of verbally expressing their thoughts and feelings.

According to its website, the company’s aim is “to create digital human beings that live, care, and grow with us.”

Initially a play buddy on platforms like Minecraft, it said it envisioned its product eventually going beyond that to include “a physical embodiment of digital intelligence.”

Founded earlier this year, Altera’s team includes computational neuroscientists, physicists, and engineers. It counts investors such as Marc Andreessen and Eric Schmidt among its backers.