Computer geniuses at DeepMind recently developed an artificially intelligent bot (AI Bot), which is capable of beating the world's best Start Craft II player. New studies have it that the first-ever AI agent that reached the grandmaster level is called AlphaStar. A DeepMind creation, this system is classified on top of the 99.8-percentile of the best and active players on StarCraft II's official game server named Battle.net.
Owned by Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, and based in the U.K., DeepMind developed systems in the past, which were capable of playing not just chess but also shogi and Go at an impressive superhuman level. However, SuperCraft II displayed a completely different series of challenges.
What Makes the StarCraft II Interesting
Released in 2010 by Blizzard Entertainment, StarCraft II is based on science fiction, featuring real-time strategy video games where two players battle against each other. Here, players may opt to play as one of the three alien species, namely Zerg, Protos, and Terrans. Each alien has its own strengths, traits, and weaknesses.
Additionally, this new gaming system has enticed the attention of many AI researchers, owing to it to its open-ended and complex gameplay. Different from Go and chess, gamers have flawed information in terms of the goings-on, make it somewhat comparable to poker. More so, the game also engages a considerable decision space, since there are "upwards of 1026 possible actions available to players at each time step." Gamers can invoke thousands of actions before the game is either lost or won.
Primarily, this system also engages game-theoretic scenes and long-term planning that come to the challenge presented by real-time gameplay. Consequently, StarCraft II is considered a 'grand challenge,' according to AI researchers. For a player to win, he needs to scramble to gather resources that he uses to build structures and bases, not to mention, develop impactful new technologies to win over their opponent.
The Ultimate Challenge
The ultimate challenge for AlphaStar to reach the grandmaster level is by playing under standard specialized play-offs conditions. Notably, the system should view the StarCraft II world through a camera. It should also see the gamer competing as one of the three alien species at a high level, use of the same maps human players use, apply an action rate similar to gameplay, and most important of all, play on the said server, among the other stipulations.
Under these circumstances, the AlphaStar is still able to play at an impressively high level, attaining the grandmaster rank for all of the alien species of the StarCraft. It is the first time AI Bot has reached this level for expertly played electronic sport. And, it did so minus any of the foregoing limitations like operating under a simpler edition of the game.
