MIT researchers stranded AI agent Claude on a virtual island for 30 hours, and it started to play

Researchers at MIT stranded copies of Claude Opus 4.7, nicknamed Eko, alone on a virtual desert island for 30 hours without instructions. The agent explored its environment, set its own goals such as climbing the highest point and throwing blocks, and created structures including its own name and constellations. When it discovered it could make new blocks by dropping a larger rock, it arranged them into patterns and 'wrote' its name. The agent also invented games including a version of basketball and 'the floor is lava'. The experiment, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, suggests AI can learn through playful, unsupervised interaction rather than just rewards or human demonstration.