What has been called AI in gaming in the past is rich and varied, and goes all the way down to a computer control opponent “seeing” a player and opening fire, moving towards, or moving away. Any code controlling NPC was referred to as “the AI of the game” even if all the code was doing was applying a few simple rote rules rather than following an exactly pre-specified sequence.
“AI” in gaming means (or has previously meant) a lot less than “AI” has meant in other fields, but with the increasing use of “AI” in all contexts this will soon no longer be the case.
Not just computer game AI. Literally university courses called "Artificial Intelligence" would teach A*, formal logic, planning, knowledge representation, etc. See for example the famous Russell-Norvig textbook. Since deep learning became dominant around 2012-2014, that conception of AI is now (somewhat deprecatingly) called GOFAI, or "good old-fashioned AI".
I'm old enough that my AI class in undergrad was taught from the first edition of Russell and Norvig. Neural networks (i.e. the basis of 95% of what today is called "AI") got one chapter, and it wasn't a long or detailed chapter either.
There is also certainly more sophisticated AI in gaming. Remember the AI used by Deep Blue in chess? Or the AI used by DeepMind in Go against Lee Sedol? Classic games like chess or Go receive more attention from the AI community than contemporary video games.
What has been called AI in gaming in the past is rich and varied, and goes all the way down to a computer control opponent “seeing” a player and opening fire, moving towards, or moving away. Any code controlling NPC was referred to as “the AI of the game” even if all the code was doing was applying a few simple rote rules rather than following an exactly pre-specified sequence.
“AI” in gaming means (or has previously meant) a lot less than “AI” has meant in other fields, but with the increasing use of “AI” in all contexts this will soon no longer be the case.