Morph Tales – A game shows how AI and humans interact

Morph Tales combines an interactive augmented reality experience with a real campus experience at ETH Zurich. In a playful way, the game aims to give young people, families and adults an understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) can support us in a wide range of activities, or how people and AI can work together to accomplish different tasks.

The game revolves around a likeable artificial intelligence named Morph, who is eager to learn and desperately needs the help of the players to realise its dream of becoming a reliable and trustworthy AI.

Morph Tales is played with tablets at four gaming stations, where the players bring previously hidden worlds to life with augmented reality technology. After that, they help their Morph solve four tasks. The game lasts 20 to 30 minutes.

From the CAB to the ETH Main Building

The full game will be available for play for the first time at the CAB building on 1 April 2023 as part of the Computer Science Days (find more information external page here). After that, the game will remain in the CAB building until 14 April 2023 before being installed for the general public in the ETH Main Building on the Polyterrasse side. The game can be played at the CAB from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. close to the food&lab restaurant, with no need to register.

This game was developed at ETH Zurich by the ETH Game Technology Center, the ETH AI Center and Corporate Communications on behalf of the ETH Executive Board. The four game challenges reflect four different AI research topics (smart farming, drug design, autonomous sailing, origin of life).

They are based on real ETH research projects from the Departments of Environmental Systems Science (InnoFarm), Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (de novo drug design), Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (Autonomous Sailing) and Earth Sciences (Origins and Prevalence of Life, Geobiology).

The game concept is also based on the approach of the ETH AI Center. The center focuses on collaborative, trustworthy, broadly accessible and inclusive AI systems that complement and do not replace humans in their tasks. Accordingly, the morphs in the game learn how to solve a task jointly with humans and reliably contribute their part.

Morph Tales in the CAB building at ETH

In the two weeks that follow the Computer Science Days, Morph Tales will remain in the CAB. Tablets will be handed out on site at the following times. Come by and train your Morph!