Arcade AI: Google’s game to learn about AI

Are you ready to improve your cloud skills and reap the rewards of Google Cloud? Game on! Go to The Arcade to play with hands-on learning labs. Complete the labs to earn digital badges. Badges award points to redeem Google Cloud rewards, such as backpacks, t-shirts, mugs, and more, at the rewards counter. You can opt for charitable donations as well.

But remember: the games are only available for a limited time. Google Cloud launched The Arcade, a platform for cloud, AI and ML developers and enthusiasts to improve their skills. The Arcade AI is a free experience and accessible through the Capacita website in the section.

If you want to know more about this app, keep reading!

What is Arcade AI?

Google Cloud launched The Arcade, a free gaming platform to enhance the cloud generative AI skills of developers, cloud enthusiasts, and AI/ML engineers.

How does Arcade AI work?

Google Cloud Arcade offers 8 hands-on labs and 3 skill levels with badges and points. A badge will be assigned upon completion of each level, worth 1 Arcade Point. The accumulated points can then be exchanged for Google Cloud prizes in the Arcade Prize Counter.

The Arcade offers three difficulty levels monthly, each with between 4 and 8 challenging labs for users. Players must overcome challenges that will test their AI and AA skills. Each completed level awards a badge equal to one Arcade point. Points can be collected and then used to obtain valuable prizes from Google Cloud in the Arcade Prize Counter.

Players also earn Arcade Points by completing skill quests in Cloud Skills Boost. This greatly improves your experience on the platform. Additionally, there are no additional fees for participating in the games, regardless of the number of games played. After entering the email and completing the free subscription, you will be able to select the difficulty and change the language in the top right menu.

Google Cloud also offers educational options on generative AI alongside The Arcade games. One of the highlights is the “Introduction to Generative AI Course”, a free resource that provides a detailed immersion in the fundamentals of AI generation, lasting approximately 45 minutes.

Google Cloud offers the “Introduction to the Generative AI Learning Path” for those looking for a more complete experience. Participants will earn a skill badge upon completion of this path, validating their knowledge and enhancing their Google Developer profile and resume.

Also Read: How Generative AI is Enhancing Customer Service

Acquire additional Arcade AI skills for free

In addition to the games in The Arcade, Google Cloud offers alternatives to learn about generative AI such as:

Introductory Generative AI Course

This free course focuses on the details of AI and lasts about 45 minutes. In it, people can learn about generative AI, how to use it, distinguish it from machine learning, and learn about Google Cloud tools for their own applications.

Introduction to the learning path in generative AI

This free learning path consists of four courses (in different languages), which upon completion grant a skills validator badge for the Google developer profile and resume. This learning path covers generative AI, large language models, responsible AI, and applying AI principles with Google Cloud.

Also Read: How Generative AI Applications are Redefining Creative Expression

How to play Arcade AI?

Two games, two levels

We will introduce two new games every month: one introductory level and one advanced level. You don’t need a lot of coins/credits in your pocket as there is no fee to play at The Arcade. The games will cover various Google Cloud topics such as BigQuery, Firebase, Kubernetes, MongoDB, and more, so you can demonstrate your skills and knowledge.

Each game will have between eight and 15 labs to improve cloud skills. “If you’re a cloud newbie, you can opt for Tier 1 and choose to play one or both games – it’s up to you.”

Some labs in The Arcade will award skill badges – Google Cloud certifications to demonstrate your ability to solve real-world problems using cloud knowledge. You earn an additional Arcade Point for every three skill badges earned between April 1 and June 15, 2023.

The challenges in the challenges

All games contain at least one or more challenging labs. Challenge labs test your learned skills. No guide, no procedures; just a scenario to solve. Did you fail to find the solution the first time? No problem. You’ll find signs of skill badges to learn what you need to in the challenge labs.

Challenge your knowledge with the Trivia Challenge

You can participate in The Arcade’s monthly Trivia challenges. Missions are sets of hands-on labs and trivia questions to learn about specific products or tools. Come back each month to participate in our Trivia Challenge and earn a point toward the prize track at the end.

Collect badges and points to exchange for fun gifts or charitable donations

Games, skill badges, and trivia are three ways to learn and earn money. You can add each earned badge to your Google Cloud Skills Boost profile. Set it to “public” and then share it on LinkedIn and add it to your resume. All arcade badges and three skill badges earn you one point on the reward track. Exchange your points for the prizes you want!

You will be able to claim your prize on specific dates at the prize counter. Sign up at The Arcade to receive information on prize counter hours. Points will expire in six months, so redeem them before it’s too late!

Get extra cloud skills for free.

In addition to monthly AI games, The Arcade provides lab games to improve skills in the cloud. They are free and include various monthly themes. You can also try security and monitoring on Google Cloud to learn security tools and techniques.

Accumulate more points to get more loot

By introducing new games each month, you’ll accumulate points over time to redeem prizes from the Prize Counter. Stay tuned for emails from The Arcade Insider for upcoming prize counter dates. The prize counter opens twice annually, the next time being in December.