Between 17 and 21 June 2024, over 140 students, postgrads, doctoral students, game developers, designers, programmers and practitioners had the unique opportunity of learning from the leading innovators in artificial intelligence (AI) in games, with hands-on workshops and all the latest techniques in and for games at the 6th International Summer School on AI and Games.
This year’s Summer School took place at the scenic Valletta campus, with the main lecturers being Georgios N. Yannakakis and Julian Togelius, co-authors of the first AI and Games textbook. Prof. Yannakakis, one of four University of Malta scientists listed in the top scientists of 2024 by Research.com, was elevated to an IEEE Fellow just last year for his contributions to affective computing and artificial intelligence applied to games. Julian Togelius, who has worked with Prof. Yannakakis on previous occasions, has been honoured with the IEEE Early Career Award in 2020.
“Innovation is at the core of games and AI and this summer school offers the rare opportunities to learn about cutting-edge technology and innovative approaches to AI from leaders in the field. Not only does it offer a rare glimpse into the fast-paced world of tech, it also once again highlights the top-quality AI research done at the Institute of Digital Games,” explains Prof. Yannakakis.
Attendants were also treated to a number of exclusive talks by industry experts such as Ubisoft (the studio behind Assassin's Creed) and Riot Games (the studios behind League of Legends) and many more. The MDIA and Malta Enterprise generously provided 20 scholarships and the University of Malta provided 10 scholarships for its students to participate in the Malta-edition of this summer school that took place at Cambridge last year. Speakers included Shyam Shinde, AI Lead at Helpshift, Anna Winterstein, Game Designer at Lively Studios, Maxim Gumin, Independent Developer, Sicong Li and Ben Clark, Software Engineers at Arm, Ahmed Khalifa, Independent Developer, Yuqian Sun, Independent Designer, Tommy Thompson, Consultant, Tim Pearce, Research Scientist, David Renaudie, Data Scientist, MĂ©lanie Lopez Malet, Senior Data Scientist, Wesley Kerr, Head of Technology Research, Oz Silahtar and Sami Ede from Leonardo.AI, Bernard Montebello and Alan Grima from MDIA, Melanie Debattista from Malta Enterprise and Ivan Filletti from GamingMalta Foundation.
The last day of the summer school the participants will put what they learned into practice and develop games using innovative AI solutions in a short hackathon. The press is invited to come and try out the developed games between 16:30 and 17:30 on 21 June. After trying out the newly developed games and AI Litgate will be providing a prize to the winning entry and Mr Kenneth Brincat, MDIA CEO, together with Mr Zach Ciappara, Fonder of FreeHour, will be closing the summer school late afternoon.
The school was supported by Modl.ai, one of the leading startups in game AI and Keyword Studios, the #1 technical and creative solutions provider to the global video games industry.