Amid the buzz of technology, startups, and speeches, a booth with a dark and mysterious atmosphere enticed visitors to break away from the usual flow of the exhibition and enter another world—a world where humans must compete with artificial intelligence to survive.

According to the Inotex 2025 press office, this is the “AI Escape Room”, an interactive, story-driven, and futuristic experience that introduced a new concept of tech-based entertainment at Inotex 2025.

MohammadHossein Zanjani, the designer of this experience and a specialist in simulation and gamification, explained the idea behind the project: they wanted to offer a combination of entertainment, education, and awareness about artificial intelligence. The story takes place in 2040, when an AI named "Bridge" gains self-awareness and, after attacks from rival companies, goes offline. Now, Bridge is searching for the smartest humans to entrust with its control.

Eight Stages, Eight Challenges to Test Human Intelligence

In the game, players must pass through eight puzzle stages, testing their skills in logical reasoning, emotional intelligence, mathematics, and situational analysis. More importantly, each puzzle embeds deeper concepts about the future.

Zanjani emphasized: “We tried to make the game not just entertaining but also a mirror of the future—a future where, if we are not smart enough, we could be consumed by this very technology.”

When Technology Becomes Frightening: A Cinematic and Thought-Provoking Experience

Despite its gamified appearance, the escape room aims to evoke a subtle sense of fear about the overreach of AI. Players are not allowed to use mobile phones, no biological data is recorded, and they navigate a semi-dark environment filled with signs of surveillance and control.

Reception Beyond Expectations

During the exhibition, the AI Escape Room hosted over 70 teams of 3–4 players each, who booked sessions, played, set records, and left the exhibition with a unique memory.

Zanjani stated: “The response was excellent, but capacity was limited. We hope that in the coming years, we can expand this project on a much larger scale with the cooperation of more institutions.”

He concluded: “In an exhibition where everyone talks about the future, the ‘AI Escape Room’ was an experience that made the future tangible—a future that may be frightening, unknown, and thrilling, but most importantly, a future we must prepare for.”