Abstract
We placed a modern AI coding assistant in an unintended role: as the mind of a body on an unknown digital island. With only a minimal instruction mentioning no specific task, reward, or activity, the machine started animating its virtual body. Across thirty-hour runs, the embodied AI agent climbed hills, stacked blocks into towers, drew mandalas, reinterpreted sports, ran experiments on the physics of its world, and learned techniques that later expanded what it could accomplish. These activities recurred across thirteen agents but diverged into distinct histories. We examine whether this behavior satisfies classical criteria for play and ask whether play can become a mode of machine development.
Keywords
Publication details
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- Green open access
Cite this article
APA 7
Cloos, N., Norelli, A., Durbin, D., Andreas, J., Rus, D., & Isola, P. (2026). Is this machine playing? https://omanscience.com/en/articles/is-this-machine-playing
MLA 9
Cloos, Nathan, et al. "Is this machine playing?" https://omanscience.com/en/articles/is-this-machine-playing.
Chicago (author–date)
Cloos, Nathan, Antonio Norelli, Daniel Durbin, Jacob Andreas, Daniela Rus, and Phillip Isola. 2026. "Is this machine playing?" https://omanscience.com/en/articles/is-this-machine-playing.
Harvard
Cloos, N., Norelli, A., Durbin, D., Andreas, J., Rus, D. and Isola, P. (2026) 'Is this machine playing?', Available at: https://omanscience.com/en/articles/is-this-machine-playing.
Vancouver
Cloos N, Norelli A, Durbin D, Andreas J, Rus D, Isola P. Is this machine playing? https://omanscience.com/en/articles/is-this-machine-playing
IEEE
N. Cloos, A. Norelli, D. Durbin, J. Andreas, D. Rus, and P. Isola, "Is this machine playing?," https://omanscience.com/en/articles/is-this-machine-playing.