Google likes to experiment with artificial intelligence. We’ve had live DJ tools, podcast creators and a way to create custom lettering. Now Google has just released a free chess game called GenChess that brings something new to the table. GenChess is unique because it allows you to design the chess pieces you play with, using AI.
To play GenChess, simply go to the GenChess website in your browser and start designing your chess set. You can choose either a classic or creative set and then type in an AI prompt to describe the type of set you want to see.
You’ll see the prompt ‘Make a classic chess set inspired by’ at the top of the screen, and you can complete the sentence with whatever you like. GenChess will then think for a few seconds as the AI generates some sample chess pieces for your approval. If you don’t like what you see, hit the ‘Regenerate Set’ button, and it will have another go. If however you do like what you see then hit the ‘Generate opponent’ button to progress to the next stage.
The computer then picks a prompt to design the opponent’s piece that it thinks will go well with what you’ve chosen already, and generates the opposing chess pieces to play against you.
How does GenChess work?
GenChess is built on top of the Imagen 3 artificial intelligence image generation model from Google DeepMind,and which rolled out in October. Imagen 3 has a range of features that are worth exploring. For example, you can ask it to create photorealistic landscapes, richly textured oil paintings, or even claymation scenes.
This also powers the ImageFX experiment and image creation in the Gemini chatbot. It is a very impressive model that can create everything from photorealism to design.