# DeepMind AI Masters Starcraft II



## Vince W (Oct 30, 2019)

Isn't this how Skynet started?
AI becomes grandmaster in 'fiendishly complex' StarCraft II


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## Nozzle Velocity (Oct 31, 2019)

That's amazing...and a little disturbing.


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## Overread (Oct 31, 2019)

Honestly I'm really glad that Bliz has been doing this with them. AI in computer games has stagnated for a fair while it seems; you can really tell this in strategy/RTS games because things AI is really good at (fast reactions) aren't as important as things like planning actions; making choices and thinking turns/moments in advance. 

You can really tell when it fails to use long ranged weapons against defenses; or attacks by the same pathway each time or lacks a variable build up etc.. Starcraft 2 AI  already is one of the few that I've seen actually use units to scout; as well as retreat from a defensive position if it thinks it will lose rather than just keep attacking etc... 

So I hope stuff like this keeps going and it can filter back into the market as new technologies and ideas to help others.


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## Nozzle Velocity (Oct 31, 2019)

Overread said:


> So I hope stuff like this keeps going and it can filter back into the market as new technologies and ideas to help others.



Agreed. Blizzard had a lot to gain in joining DeepMind with this experiment. I thought it was interesting that AlphaStar had problems sometimes remembering how it had previously beaten versions of itself while still improving each time. Weird.

Check out this YouTube clip from DeepMind. AlphaStar doesn't read the game code itself, it "sees" visual information fed to it through Blizzard's custom API. Several maps are fed to it representing different aspects of the game. This clip only has a few on the left. Notice how they simultaneously change when the probe starts the mines.


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## Venusian Broon (Oct 31, 2019)

Vince W said:


> Isn't this how Skynet started?
> AI becomes grandmaster in 'fiendishly complex' StarCraft II



That's okay, if it starts to get uppity we teach it. by playing noughts and crosses - then all the other games that it can play, that there are no winners...

...and while it's trying to figure out if that indeed makes any sense whatsoever, we quickly phone Clive in IT to pull the plug out of the mainframe as it's philosophising.


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