How AI Threatens To Take The Fun Out Of Gaming—And How To Stop It

Forbes

22-04-2025

Steven Smith, Head of Protocol at Tools For Humanity.
Games are, at their core, about people.
From ancient rounds of mancala thousands of years ago to the thriving world of online video gaming, gameplay has always been defined by the tension of unpredictable decisions, the thrill of outsmarting an opponent and the satisfaction of shared experiences. It's that human element that makes friendly competition so captivating, a compelling drama where skill, strategy and luck collide—and it's nothing without the players who bring that drama to life.
Today, the same technologies that have delivered increasingly complex (and wonderful) games to the world also hold the potential to undermine the very humanity that makes them worth playing. Although the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) offers infinite possibilities for enhancing online video games, it's also given rise to a major challenge for players and developers alike: third-party bots.
In recent years, gamers who cheat have used third-party bots to gain an unfair advantage in online games, whether it's automating complex building patterns in Fortnite or improving shooting accuracy in Call of Duty: Warzone. As AI tools have proliferated, this usage has only increased: According to a February 2025 survey of gamers conducted by Echelon Insights, 59% of respondents reported regularly encountering such bots in the course of gameplay.
Although AI has its place in video game development, from building more adaptive non-player characters to procedural content generation, third-party bots fundamentally erode a game's competitive integrity and, in turn, suck the joy out of gameplay entirely. According to the Echelon survey, 71% of gamers say these 'bots are ruining multiplayer competition,' and nearly 1 in 5 gamers (18%) say they've 'stopped playing a game entirely' in response to the sudden swell of AI opponents. If a game is rigged, why even play at all?
The rise of third-party bots has underscored a growing demand for human verification in online games. Indeed, 59% of Echelon respondents said that it's 'important to know whether they are competing against a bot or a real human.' If gamers are going to face off against bots (like, say, chess maestro Garry Kasparov vs. IBM supercomputer Deep Blue), they at least want to know ahead of time.
That's where 'proof-of-human' systems come into play. Designed to authenticate digital accounts as belonging to real, unique humans rather than automated systems, proof-of-human mechanisms can take on different forms in the context of video games. They include tests or behavioral checks that AI struggles to replicate, Captchas embedded in gameplay or monitoring player behavior for patterns and imperfections consistent in human playstyles that bots fail to consistently mimic. If gameplay is too unnatural, there's a high likelihood that the player is, in fact, a bot.
Single sign-on (SSO) mechanisms attempted to address the problem by linking player accounts to established platforms that require multifactor authentication or even biometric data (such as face ID or fingerprint recognition). The goal is to create a higher barrier for bots and AI-assisted accounts to bypass and ensure that a player accessing the game has already been authenticated as a real person. Taken together, both gameplay analysis and SSO verifications can help developers reduce the creation of bot accounts. For example, some gaming platforms currently monitor suspicious activity and employ their own anti-bot and fraud detection systems; if a player account is flagged for unusual behavior, game developers can coordinate with a provider to restrict or suspend access, effectively cutting off bots at the source. This creates a deterrent for bot operators and makes it easier to identify and remove AI-assisted accounts from competitive play. (The same mechanism can potentially apply to players who engage in abusive behavior like toxic chat or harassment.)
Unfortunately, this combination falls short of a true proof-of-human signal. After all, sophisticated AI processes that can easily pass Turing tests can also easily defeat these systems by simulating natural aiming variability, imitating organic player decision making and even engaging in context-appropriate communication. This makes it harder for even the most sophisticated analysis to distinguish between human and simulated behavior, suggesting that AI-powered cheating may remain one step ahead—a prospect that lends even more urgency to the development of a more robust proof-of-human system for the online gaming world.
This need extends to user-generated digital ecosystems beyond the gaming world. Take online recommendations for products and services: AI-generated reviews have become a growing problem in recent years, flooding once-trusted platforms with fake or misleading content. A proof-of-human system tied to verified accounts or behavioral checks could help ensure that only genuine human feedback is prioritized, whether that involves requiring users to authenticate through an SSO platform or complete a human verification task before posting a review. Indeed, the same logic applies to the proliferation of bots in other online spaces, from the so-called 'reservation bots' that have grown notorious for locking down restaurant tables faster than hungry human diners to the ticket bots that are vacuuming up seats at your favorite live concerts.
Although AI offers the potential to augment everything from video games to online shopping, cheaters and fraudsters threaten to spoil the fun for everyone. For games, at least, proof-of-human systems can introduce an added layer of verification that not only makes it harder for these actors to negatively impact a gaming community but also fosters a more secure and fair environment for all players. Games are, after all, about bringing joy and entertainment to people—let's keep them that way.
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