GenAI Arcade: Explore, Play, and Understand AI

Why we Built the GenAI Arcade

Generative AI is everywhere: in your feeds, your apps, your music, and your memes. But it’s hard to know how the technologies behind it really work. And that’s a problem for us all.

Where do you go to learn about GenAI?

Most AI explainer resources fall into three problematic camps. Some are too technical, drowning you in jargon about “transformers” and “neural networks” without explaining what any of it actually means. Others, particularly from big tech companies, gloss over the massive environmental costs, failing to mention that AI companies aren’t transparent about energy consumption or that they use accounting tricks to hide their carbon footprint. Then there are the doomsayers, painting apocalyptic scenarios that make AI sound like a Hollywood movie villain rather than the useful, flawed and limited technology it actually is.

Big tech companies often explain AI in ways that sound helpful but don’t tell the full story. Sometimes, they might even represent the technology as mysterious or even magical to make it seem more powerful than it really is. It’s all part of the sales pitch.

This is why we built the GenAI Arcade. Instead of just reading about AI, you get to play with it directly through a series of interactive games that reveal both its capabilities and its limitations. We believe the best way to understand AI is to actually interact with GenAI, to poke it, test its limits, and see what happens when you push it in unexpected directions.

This is why we built the GenAI Arcade. Instead of just reading about AI, you get to play with it directly through a series of interactive games that reveal both its capabilities and its limitations. We believe the best way to understand AI is to actually interact with GenAI, to poke it, test its limits, and see what happens when you push it in unexpected directions.

You don’t need to be a tech expert to play around in the Arcade. You don’t need to know how to code. All you need is a bit of curiosity and a willingness to experiment.

What You Gain from Understanding GenAI

When you understand how AI works, you can make better decisions about when and how to use it:

Better questions: You’ll know why “please write me a professional email” gets generic results, but “write an email declining a meeting invitation while suggesting alternative times” gets exactly what you need. This puts you in charge of the conversation, not the AI.

Environmental responsibility: You’ll understand that using AI for everything harms our planet and choose tools that align with your values. A simple calculator or search engine can use far less energy than asking an AI model to do the same task - and you’ll have the confidence to make that choice.

Holding AI accountable: You’ll see through marketing claims to understand what these tools can and can’t actually do, including recognising when companies are overselling AI’s capabilities or underselling its limitations. You’ll also understand how to create more inclusive content and demand better from AI developers.

Informed citizenship: You’ll make thoughtful decisions about when to use AI, when to double-check its output, and when to avoid it entirely.

Your Role in the Future of GenAI

At QUT’s GenAI Lab, we believe the future of generative AI isn’t set in stone. We have the power to shape it, but that power depends on understanding how AI works and deciding what kind of AI we want to build.

The choices we make now, about which tools we use and what we use them for, will shape the future of this technology. Understanding AI isn’t just about using it better today, it’s about being part of the conversation about where it goes tomorrow.

About the GenAI Arcade

This tool was created by QUT’s GenAI Lab. For questions or more information, contact: Dr Kevin Witzenberger, GenAI Lab Research Fellow.

Recommended Citation: Witzenberger, K., Burgess, J., He, W., & Snowswell, A. (2025). GenAI Arcade. QUT GenAI Lab. http://genai-arcade.net/.