Fei-fei li's world labs releases frameboy: a web-based demo for exploring ai-generated worlds

World Labs, the startup founded by AI researcher Fei-Fei Li, recently unveiled Frameboy, a demonstration project allowing users to explore AI-generated worlds directly through a web browser. This release follows the company's announcement in September of Atlas, its global first multimodal world model, which can generate and reconstruct images and video frames with pixel-level camera control. Frameboy functions as a simulated gaming console, enabling users to select different simulated worlds via various 'game cartridges' and begin exploration after a short loading period. Control is managed through touchscreens or keyboard inputs, with the joystick adjusting the view and the D-pad handling movement, though the experience is noted to have some lag due to the maximum frame rate of 15 frames per second. Crucially, the current implementation requires powerful cloud GPU servers, making it costly compared to local rendering methods. However, the project suggests a potential future where higher frame rates and lower operational costs could allow anyone to create and browse virtual worlds directly on the web.