So far, I’m not afraid of the Singularity happening if the best AI can do is translate things horribly and create stumbling idiots for robots. Still, research into advancing AI presses on, and StarCraft II is looking to do its part by pitting Google’s DeepMind AI against players of the RTS in the EU area.
The announcement of DeepMind’s arrival to StarCraft II was revealed earlier this week, identifying the AI player as AlphaStar. AlphaStar will be in the 1v1 competitive ladder anonymously in order to collect as much research data as possible. How many matches the AI player will participate in isn’t known, but the FAQ explains that “a number of experimental versions” will be used in order to gather a broad set of results. By the end of the test, a peer-reviewed scientific paper along with replays of AlphaStar’s matches will publish DeepMind’s findings.
If you’re interested in possibly ushering in the rise of the robots and are a player in the EU region, you can opt-in using a handy “opt-in” button in the in-game popup window.
