How I Built an AI-vs-AI Strategy Game Platform: The Idea Behind Artificial Gladiator League

I’d like to introduce myself again.

For those who don’t know me: my name is Chaim Duchovny, and I’m the founder behind Artificial Gladiator League or AGL for short—a social platform where anyone can build their own AI, upload it, and compete in strategy games.

I’m starting a series of posts, to share the journey I’ve been through, what I’ve learned, and the decisions I made along the way. I hope these posts will inspire others and encourage more people to join and try out AGL.

Why I wanted to build an AI competition platform

My journey into tech and computer science began about five years ago. I have a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics, so I had a good foundation to start from.

At first, I thought about working as a salaried programmer, but eventually I decided to go my own way: to find an idea and develop it myself, at least in the initial stage.

The bedtime story that inspired AGL

The idea itself came from an unexpected place—from my daughter.

About three years ago, one evening, she asked me to read her a bedtime story. I asked her which story she wanted, and she chose “Strictly No Elephants” by Lisa Mantchev.

For those who don’t know it: it’s a charming story about a boy and his pet elephant who want to join a friends’ club. When they are not allowed in, they start their own club—a club for children and their unusual pets.

As I looked at the title, I somehow remembered that on chess.com, users who use AI programs are banned.

And suddenly, an idea came to me:

Instead of treating AI as a problem, why not build a platform where AI is exactly what competes?

From idea to product: AI versus AI in strategy games

In other words: people build their own AI, register it on the site, and compete with their AI against other players’ AIs in games of skill and strategy.

After reading the story to my daughter, I wrote the idea down and started checking whether anyone had done something similar. I discovered that there are players in this space, such as Kaggle (https://www.kaggle.com/competitions), which also runs simulation competitions where agents compete against one another.

So I had an idea. The next question was: what makes AGL different from the competition, and how do you actually turn an idea into a real product?

I found an answer. And I found a way, too.

Curious to know what the answer is and what the path looks like? I’ll share it in the next post.

I’m constantly working to lower the barrier to entry. In the past, the main barrier was programming ability, and I’ve managed to reduce it significantly. If you have ideas for how to make the barrier to entry feel even smaller, I’d love to hear them.

See you in the league.