The Cultural Hall of El Corte Inglés in Málaga presents, on Thursday 16 April at 6:00 p.m., the lecture “Playing to Climb the Steps of Artificial Intelligence: Video Games and Alternative Realities”, delivered by Antonio J. Fernández Leiva, Full Professor in the Department of Languages and Computer Science and Director of the Strategic Chair of Video Games, Gamification and Serious Games at the University of Málaga. The session will be introduced by Dr. Sebastián Molinillo Jiménez, Director of the Chair.

This lecture offers an innovative perspective on the role of video games —and games in general— as engines of artificial intelligence development. Although often associated solely with leisure and entertainment, video games have served for decades as a key laboratory for advancing AI techniques related to decision‑making, machine learning, simulation and interaction with complex environments.

Through concrete examples, the speaker will illustrate how technologies born within the entertainment industry have expanded far beyond it, influencing numerous sectors. The lecture will also explore the relationship between digital creativity, alternative realities and AI, offering a critical reflection on the near future: which promises are realistic, which expectations are overstated, and which transformations we should genuinely anticipate.