The jokes about Google probably being “Skynet” of Terminator fame have been around for years.  The problem with those jokes is, as time marches on, it seems that they are getting less and less funny.  Not because we have heard them a few thousand times each, but because of how scary Google’s artificial intelligence software is getting.  Take the latest news about Google DeepMind which has taught an AI gamer (software) to play 49 different video games on the Atari 2600.  The scary part is the scores.

23 brand new high scores that beat the best human players.  That is the scary part about the information coming out of Google Deepmind, via New Scientist.  Using something called a deep neural network, the artificial intelligence learns by examining what is going on in the game.  Basically, this is an extension of Google’s monetization effort.  Here though, instead of money and ad clicks, it is progressing the game and increasing the points earned.  The AI examines the state of the game screen and then, through risk/reward algorithms, attempts to earn a high score.

“It really is the first algorithm that can match human performance across a wide range of challenging tasks,” says DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis.  Quote via New Scientist.

Better known in the use of image recognition, deep neural networks are just now being tasked with new challenges such as playing complex games.  These networks have been playing simpler games such as backgammon for a few decades.  Retro gamers may remember IBM’s Deep Blue which was a chess playing computer that made notoriety by beating the chess champion, Garry Kasparov in 1997.

It is rumored that Google will be using DeepMind for better monetization of the Internet.  Interestingly, DeepMind does not learn based on the game code, it learns by monitoring the screen and reacting to changes much like a human player does.  What does this mean for the future?  Who knows, but we can safely say, according to New Scientist’s article, DeepMind is rumored to be in use right now in seven Google services.  The question is, which seven would that be?

Source: New Scientist via Kotaku.com.au and Retro Domination

Carl Williams

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