Second Edition Published!

Welcome to the Artificial Intelligence and Games book (2nd edition) published with Springer Nature in 2025. The book aims to be the first comprehensive textbook on the application and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in, and for, games. Our hope is that the book will be used by educators and students of graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on game AI as well as game AI practitioners at large.

This second edition of the 2018 textbook captures significant developments in AI and games over the past 7 years, incorporating advancements in computer vision, reinforcement learning, deep learning, and the emergence of transformer-based large language models and generative AI. The book has been reorganized to provide an updated overview of AI in games, with separate sections dedicated to AI’s core uses in playing and generating games, and modeling their players, along with a new chapter on ethical considerations. Aimed at readers with foundational AI knowledge, the book primarily targets three audiences: graduate or advanced undergraduate students pursuing careers in game AI, AI researchers and educators seeking teaching resources, and game programmers interested in creative AI applications. The text is complemented by this website featuring exercises, lecture slides, and additional educational materials suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses.

You can buy the book directly from Springer or from Amazon, though buying directly from Springer may be cheaper.

The public draft of the second edition of the book is out and available here!

Information about the first edition below

Welcome to the Artificial Intelligence and Games book. This book aims to be the first comprehensive textbook on the application and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in, and for, games. Our hope is that the book will be used by educators and students of graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on game AI as well as game AI practitioners at large.

The book’s first edition is available from Springer in digital and printed versions. Click here to access the SpringerLink edition or to buy the hardcopy.

If your institution does not have access to SpringerLink, a pdf version of the book is available here (but please try the link above first). You can also buy the book from Amazon, though buying directly from Springer may be cheaper.

AI and Games Summer School Series

We run an annual International Summer School on AI and Games, based on the content of the book, since 2018! The last edition of the school (2025) was held in Malmo.

Citing the book

To cite this book you may use the following bibtex entry:

@book{yannakakis2025artificial,
    title={{Artificial Intelligence and Games}},
    author={Georgios N. Yannakakis and Julian Togelius},
    publisher={Springer Nature},
    note={\url{https://gameaibook.org}},
    year={2025}
}

which yields the following reference (e.g.in Chicago style):

Yannakakis, Georgios N., and Julian Togelius. Artificial Intelligence and Games. Springer Nature, 2025.