Artificial Intelligence – Google software copes own “Space Invaders” – Süddeutsche.de

A Google team has developed a software that automatically learns to play video games perfectly – including Atari classics like “Space Invaders” or “Breakout”. The AI ​​system invented this long-term strategies.

By Christoph Behrens

If you want to be really good at “Space Invaders”, takes time and money. As the video game in 1978 conquered Japan, the 100-yen coins were scarce because they are now mainly flowed from vending machines in the battle against alien invaders. The record holder held 38 hours at a stretch by -. Before the highscore he had practiced course, thousands of hours

If a computer is leaving the thing, learning is much faster, researchers report the Google subsidiary “Deep Mind” , The team has created a special software to gamble 49 classic games console “Atari”. More than half of the games dominated the program soon on the level of a professional video game tester, including “Space Invaders”. In 14 games the high score of the computer was at least twice that of the human professionals, the researchers report in the journal Nature .

This is the “Deep-Q network” differently constructed entirely as classical systems with artificial intelligence. The developers have given him no information on possible strategies. Instead, learn Deep-Q independently by processing the image information of the console. Thus, the system gets the to see what a human player sees on the screen, and can react with the same commands on it. Only the number of points to the computer drive up -. As he reaches is up to him

“Long-term strategy”

In the game “Breakout” for example, had deep-Q with a ball destroy a series stones at the top of the playing field; the ball must not fall to the ground there. After a few hundred slot passages Deep Q began to hurl the ball in one corner, there to dig a tunnel through the series. Once at the top, the bullet destroyed the stones all by itself.

“In some games Deep-Q discovered a relatively long-term strategy,” write the developer. Your impressions compares the experiences of past software with high scores and GameOvers to calculate the next train. “Conventional artificial intelligence systems are written exclusively for the game,” said Stefan Höltgen, chief editor of Games magazine Retro

Deep-Q, however, can master a whole series of games. – the AI ​​can box, shoot, but also drive a car race. Difficulties resulted puzzle games such as “Montezuma’s Revenge”, in which the player is searching for keys and dodging traps. Result of the computer in this Jazzy: zero percent

.