Microsoft's AI just got a perfect score on Mrs. Pacman

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By Matthew Griffin Intelligence and the Senses 11th July 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Games and play help humans learn new skills, especially when we’re young, but it increasingly looks like AI’s are the superior game players

Video games are one of the best ways to train Artificial Intelligence (AI) – they offer risk free digital environments for learning machines to learn and make mistakes, but once AI gets good, it can be unstoppable.

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Maluuba, a company that was recently bought by Microsoft, just let loose a learning AI on Ms. Pac Man and eventually it got the highest score possible, 999,990, which, as far as anyone can tell, is the first time anyone, or anything for that matter has aced the game.

You puny human, get out of the office and get back to playing games! Save humanity’s dignity!

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Ms. Pac Man, seen here on the Atari 2600, has many variables inside it – there are the dots, of course, and the ghosts tracking the player down. Then there are the ghosts you track down and the pieces of fruit that suddenly appear. The Maluuba team broke these variables down into several agents, 150, to be exact, so the AI could focus on several small tasks as opposed to one large one.

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Considering how AI’s have also mastered a mixture of other Atari games, as well as the ancient game of Go, Poker and even pig wrangling, which apparently helps them become better negotiators, they could all probably get together for a heck of a gaming night. That said though Minecraft has proven to be more of a struggle… ha ha stupid AI’s.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working across the next 50 years, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series.

Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future.

A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries.

Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.