(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Researchers create AI for infinite soulless 3D worlds [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-10-27  

Researchers have created WorldGrow, an AI system that generates endless 3D environments by stitching together procedurally created rooms and hallways. The result looks exactly like what you'd get if you fed an algorithm a dataset of generic office furniture and apartment layouts, then asked it to build forever.

The project page at world-grow.github.io shows the technical achievement: block-by-block synthesis that creates "photorealistic and structurally consistent" spaces you can theoretically walk through without end. The geometry works. The textures are convincing. The spaces are navigable.

They're also profoundly empty in a way that goes beyond just lacking people. These are spaces that feel generated — fluorescent-lit rooms and corridors that connect to more rooms and corridors, all rendered with the bland precision of architectural visualization software. It's the backrooms aesthetic, but unintentional. Liminal spaces as a byproduct of training data.

A commenter on Hacker News captured the core problem: "I don't think generating virtual space is the issue. It's about generating interesting virtual space!"

WorldGrow proves you can build infinite environments that are technically impressive and completely soulless at the same time.

The researchers trained their system on 3D-FRONT, a dataset of indoor scenes. What comes out are spaces that look like every generic apartment and office you've ever forgotten, repeated infinitely with slight variations. It's technically a breakthrough. It's also a vision of digital hell — competent, consistent, and utterly devoid of intention.

Previously:

• The rise, fall and reboot of The Backrooms

• Explore The Backrooms in this short found-footage horror flick

• The quiet horror of procedural generation

• Original 'Backrooms' photo of yellowing office dungeon finally identified as Oshkosh HobbyTown

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/10/27/researchers-create-ai-for-infinite-soulless-3d-worlds.html

Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/