Google Labs, the experimental arm of the tech giant, has introduced a latest online project which offers an entertaining variant of the sport of chess.
The web experiment is known as GenChess and, because the name suggests, uses Gemini Imagen 3, Google's image generation model that enables players to customize their very own chess pieces using text prompts.
To check out the sport, users must log in with a Gmail account. Once logged in, they will click the “Generate” button and enter the theme they need for his or her chess game, resembling one inspired by sushi or pizza.
GenChess offers two styles: classic and artistic. The classic version resembles a conventional chess set, while the creative version is more abstract. After the model generates an entire set, players have the chance to edit individual parts. For example, if the king doesn't live as much as expectations, users can provide additional text prompts to refine his appearance.
Once players are completely satisfied with their customized chess game, they will generate an opponent to play against. In our testing, Google compared our sushi-themed set to a bot's taco-inspired chess game. Players can choose from three difficulty levels (easy, medium and hard) and two timer options (5/3 or 10/0).
Google's latest web experiment is easy but functional. A spokesperson told us it's primarily designed to “show collaboration between AI, design and chess and permit anyone to play with image creation,” they said.
As a part of the announcement for GenChess, Google revealed 4 other chess-related initiatives to coincide with the beginning of the World Chess Championship, which began on Monday. This includes Google's partnership with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which invites people to take part in a coding challenge to construct AI chess engines on Kaggle, a Google-owned platform for data scientists and machine learning engineers .
Additionally, the Chess Gem game for Gemini might be released next month. This latest conversational offering allows players to take part in chess games throughout the Gemini app, where they will test their skills against a language model and even engage in light-hearted banter. However, this feature is barely available to Gemini Advanced subscribers.
