Latitude Games': AI Dungeon was changing the face of Al-generated content ... until its users turned against it.

• Author: Bicknell, Lindsay
• Position: ENTREPRENEUR

WHEN THE GAMING STARTUP LATITUDE launched their text adventure game Al Dungeo in late 2019, It exploded. A hundred thousand people played in that first week Six weeks later, they had over 1 million players and more than 6 million stories. The company had built a loyal, active user base almost overnight--and was bursting with activity. It was proving to be an exciting step forward for Al-generated content.

But when Latitude dropped their latest update in April 2021, a move that would prevent content related to child sexual abuse material, the same community that had rallied around the game turned against it--and they were vocal. The game's Google Play Store rating, which was once as high as a 4.8, dropped 'down to a 2.6 and is lowering every day. Now the At Dungeon subreddit is filled with memes dragging the company and the game, and the AI Dungeon Discord server eVen temporarily shut down as a result of overwhelmed moderators.

As Latitude's website proclaims: "like the Wizard of Oz, AI Is the magic behind the curtain." But like the Wizard of Oz, we just might be shocked by what we find when we pull back the curtain.

AI DUNGEON: LIKE DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, BUT WITH LESS DICE

At its core, AI Dungeon is an innovative, creative tool for storytelling. A text-based adventure game similar to Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the artificial intelligence acts as the "dungeon master," taking you along for a unique adventure. You put in your actions and the AI generates a result. Together, you tell a story--and the possibilities are limitless.

When I spoke with Nick Walton, co-founder and CEO of Latitude, he painted me a picture of a dragon and a pastry. "You might go up to a dragon and hand him a pastry ... And maybe you go into business with the dragon and you open up a bakery and just any story you can imagine is possible." And there are no end credits. The story you tell with the AI goes on for as long as you want it to. "AI Dungeon is very much like Al-powered interactive fiction. It doesn't have the structured progression [like a D&D game], it doesn't have skills and abilities. It's all about the story."

In fact, it's more like a word editor with predictive text--the stories you write in the game are akin to writing a book--and your co-author is artificial intelligence. Prior to April, a player could even share their stories with the game's Explore feature, which lets players read the adventures of other players. It proved to be an endless source of unique...