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AI Microsoft Games

Robots Are Coming For Our Ms. Pac-Man High Scores (fastcompany.com) 74

Posted by msmash from the that-hurts dept.
A Microsoft-made AI system has achieved a perfect score of 999,990 points on the Atari 2600 version of the classic 'Ms. Pac-Man.' From a report: Researchers at the Microsoft-owned deep learning company Maluuba have used an AI system to break the all-time Ms. Pac-Man record. In a blog post, Microsoft wrote that, "using a divide-and-conquer method that could have broad implications for teaching AI agents to do complex tasks that augment human capabilities," Maluuba's AI was able to record a perfect Ms. Pac-Man score of 999,990 on the Atari 2600 version of the game, breaking the all-time record of 933,580.
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Robots Are Coming For Our Ms. Pac-Man High Scores More

Robots Are Coming For Our Ms. Pac-Man High Scores

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  • That's ENOUGH! (Score:5, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Wednesday June 14, 2017 @04:52PM (#54621145)

    When a computer beat the world champion at chess, I didn't care. When it happened with Go, I didn't care.

    But now it's personal...

  • More AI (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Wednesday June 14, 2017 @04:54PM (#54621167) Homepage Journal
    More AI BS. Just stop it already. This isn't AI. Some idiots will be claiming Eliza is AI in their next funding cycle.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Say, do you have any psychological problems?

    • Could you define AI in a way that excludes stuff like the one in article but is still a credible definition please?

      • Could you define AI in a way that excludes stuff like the one in article but is still a credible definition please?

        It has to be at least twice as smart as a human, and it has to be evil.
        Examples:
        1. Skynet [wikipedia.org]
        2. Roy Batty [wikipedia.org]
        3. Ava [wikipedia.org]

      • How about something that is actually intelligent? Games don't count. Games have strict rules and boundaries. Computers LOVE those kinds of problems.

        • Here's a game: you have a car, and you need to drive it from California to Florida following the rules of the road.

          Or: you have a phone, a bank account with $1000, and an internet connection. Your goal is to increase your money following the rules of the law.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hawk ( 1151 )

      How does it make you feel that Some idiots will be claiming Eliza is AI in their next funding cycle. :)

      hawk

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • This was a case of a modern machine beating an antique machine.

        No. It is a case of a modern machine beating humans at playing an antique game.

    • This is a legitimate paper with a significant result. PacMan is an important benchmark in Reinforcement Learning, as one of the most difficult games of the Atari set. DeepMind has tried it, many others have tried to solve it, but only Microsoft beat the top score.

    • More AI BS. Just stop it already. This isn't AI. Some idiots will be claiming Eliza is AI in their next funding cycle.

      Why would you say some idiots will be claiming?

  • Seriously, it's just a pattern matching algorithm.

    It's not able to do other things.

    AI can both walk and chew gum at the same time.

    Oh, wait, ok, maybe it's smarter than the Comrade-in-Chief, but that's still not AI.

    • Re:This is not AI (Score:4, Interesting)

      by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Wednesday June 14, 2017 @05:02PM (#54621271) Homepage Journal
      Haven't you heard? Everything is "AI" now. We used to just call them "computer programs", but now they are "deep learning NN".

      • It's also like Data Scientists. I work with Data Scientists. Technically, I have a postgrad in data science. Most of what they call Data Science, isn't.

    • Seriously, it's just a pattern matching algorithm.

      It's not able to do other things.

      AI can both walk and chew gum at the same time.

      Oh, wait, ok, maybe it's smarter than the Comrade-in-Chief, but that's still not AI.

      The AI guys call them "Weak AI", fearing that they would be out of a job if anyone realized that we don't have AI yet.

      https://www.techopedia.com/def... [techopedia.com]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by idji ( 984038 )
        And how is your brain's intelligence more than "a pattern matching algorithm"? Maybe your intelligence is not much more than neurons reacting to each other based on inputs.

        • The brain is really a series of linked "weak" A.I.'s.

          Read "the man who mistook his wife for a hat".

          Fascinating stuff.

        • And maybe it isn't. Either way, Neural Nets are nothing like neurons OR the brain. Ridiculous.

        • And how is your brain's intelligence more than "a pattern matching algorithm"? Maybe your intelligence is not much more than neurons reacting to each other based on inputs.

          Because it includes the ability to produce leaps of logic and imagination that has little bearing on your experiences. If it was just a pattern matching algorithm then you would never be able to think of things beyond the patterns that you have had experience with. That's what limits today's"AI"s. They don't have an ability to learn or develop new interests on their own, they have to be fed information .

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Kjella ( 173770 )

        The AI guys call them "Weak AI", fearing that they would be out of a job if anyone realized that we don't have AI yet.

        Who the heck wants real AI anyway? I don't want to have a philosophical debate with my dishwasher about what the meaning of its existence is or why it should be a slave to me or for it to come up with creative ideas like killing all humans. Extremely advanced automation with superhuman refinement and OCD sounds great.

  • but I play one on Slashdot. If your child has a cough, she'll get just what the AI orders.
  • A quick Google search suggests that the limiting factor in Ms. Pacmac top high scores is luck. Fruits that give a varying number of points show up in each stage. There are a finite number of them and it's pure luck whether you get one worth a high number of points. While getting to the Kill screen (essentially the end of the game) takes skill, it's well within human ability. Doing it enough times so the stars align and you get 1000000+ points is not as easy. RNG manipulation might be possible but it seems l

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shess ( 31691 )

      This is for the arcade version which is the version the 933580 human world record was made on. I don't know if the Atari 2600 version has any important differences but if it does the initial comparison between scores was invalid to begin with.

      https://strategywiki.org/wiki/... [strategywiki.org]

      The Atari 2600 versions of Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man has similar gameplay mechanics, but the limitations of the platform make the 2600 versions notably different from the arcade versions.

  • What AI ... I don't think so. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I used to be a huge Ms Pac-Man player. There is NO AI for this all you have to do is remember how the ghosts move on each level. They react to how you move, so after a while you can memorize how to get through the levels and as I played over and over and over I could get up to the really high levels fairly fast. Once I got to one I did not know I would have to pay for hours to get back to it and then try to remember it. All the so-called AI is doing is memorizing the levels. Since it is a computer and can r

  • So, a computer can play a perfect game against....a computer. Yawn.

    I'd be more surprised if it couldn't.

    Really, why not just cut out the middleman and let computer #2 read and respond to the code of computer #1?

  • Did it remove the windows partition with Linux?

  • We've had Tool Assisted Speed Runs for years.

    I mean, the new tool they've developed for doing TAS is pretty cool, I guess.

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