Google's DeepMind AI wing has scored some major Brownie points with its parent, after Google announced that it had deployed AI-based algorithms to optimize data center cooling systems. The installation has reportedly saved Google around 30% on these cooling power bills, since they were deployed in 2016. Resource usage optimization is one of the most promising areas for AI-based systems, thanks to IoT sensors being able to generate vast amounts of data that can be crunched by these programs. Data centers share much in common with other industrial facilities, but quicker equipment refresh cycles mean that there's greater opportunity to install newer sensor-filled equipment. In Google's facilities, the DeepMind code was given control of the cooling equipment, and is apparently…

Last August at the Dota 2 International tournament in Seattle, OpenAI introduced an AI bot that upset the world's top 1v1 human player. The San Francisco-based AI research institute is now at the International 2018 in Vancouver, where their team of state-of-the-art bots is battling professional human teams in a highly anticipated best-of-three 5v5 Dota 2 showdown. Alas, the humans drew first blood: In a match that would make John Connor proud, Brazilian pro team "paiN" dispatched the "OpenAI Five" Bots yesterday in 52 minutes. OpenAI Five had more kills and a slight economy edge in the midgame, but did not push their advantage and kept losing their towers. The smart bots also made some dumb moves, such as warding in the wrong positions, bad item choice, and fewer gankings (leaving your lane to kill an enemy Hero in another lane).

AI research platform has experienced a resurgence following concurrent advances in computer power, large amounts of data, and theoretical understanding. AI techniques have become an essential part of the technology industry, helping to solve many challenging problems in business. OpenAI is a non-profit Artificial Intelligence (AI) research company, associated with business magnate Elon Musk, that aims to carefully promote and develop friendly AI in such a way as to benefit, rather than harm, humanity as a whole. The organization aims to "freely collaborate" with other institutions and researchers by making its patents and research open to the public. The company is supported by over US$1 billion in commitments; however, only a tiny fraction of the $1 billion pledged is expected to be spent in the first few years. The founders are motivated in part by concerns about existential risk from artificial general intelligence.

OpenAI's bots were knocked out of The International – the Dota 2 computer game's annual Olympics – on Thursday after they lost to human pros 2-0 in a best-of-three contest. Dota 2 is a hugely popular online battle strategy game (think Command and Conquer meets Tolkien) played by several hundred thousand people worldwide. The aim is to storm a map, take over bases by destroying towers, and take the ultimate prize: the enemy's "Ancient." Teams are made up of five players known as heroes. There is a pool of more than a hundred different hero types all with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Artificial intelligence has swept the board with humans in games like chess and Go, but taking on e-sports might be a step too far -- for now. At The International tournament last night in Vancouver, a team of human pro gamers defeated a team of AI bots at the battle arena game Dota 2. The victory for team human was decisive but by no means inevitable, with the AI players putting up a valiant fight. And with two more games to play this week, machine might yet triumph over humanity. The bots were the creation of OpenAI, a non-profit research lab founded by tech luminaries such as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The lab's main goal is to develop artificial intelligence that "benefits all of humanity," but teaching bots to play Dota has been an important research task for some time now.

One way to measure progress in artificial intelligence is to chart victories by algorithms over champions of increasingly challenging games--checkers, chess, and, in 2016, Go. On Wednesday, five bots sought to extend AI's mastery to e-sports, in the fantasy battle game Dota 2. They failed, as a team of pro gamers from Brazil called paiN defended humanity's honor--for now. A crowd of thousands in Vancouver's hockey arena watched the bots battle paiN over 52 tense minutes packed with spells and firebolts. The human-machine contest was a side event to The International, a Dota 2 tournament that boasts the biggest purse in e-sports, at $25 million. The five bots that lost Wednesday were created by OpenAI, a research institute cofounded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to work towards human-level artificial intelligence, and make the technology safe.

The International In the past hour, OpenAI's artificially intelligent bots lost their first match against professional players at smash-hit computer game Dota 2 at The International – the video game's annual championship tournament. It's the first bout in a best-of-three competition between human professional players versus OpenAI's code, the other two rounds will take place over the next two days, each day a different human team. Thousands of hardcore Dota fans lit up by glowing bracelets sat down at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, to watch pros battle against a machine running OpenAI's software in this first round. The humans – dubbed Team paiN – were five players from Brazil, while OpenAI Five is made up five long-short-term memory neural-network-based agents. Dota 2 is a popular battle strategy game played online.

Development in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unending. Everyday breakthroughs are achieved to further solve problems. From indications, this technology now seems to be veering towards healthcare. Tech developers have indicated that AI is the solution for all problems. DeepMind Technologies Limited, a tech company owned by Google's parent company, is researching into the possibility of using AI in health care, specifically in diagnosing eye conditions.

Although human intervention will occur when needed, the DeepMind system will take screenshots every five minutes to analyse where and when energy consumption levels can be reduced. DeepMind said in a recent blog post: "Even minor improvements would provide significant energy savings and reduce CO2 emissions to help combat climate change." Any necessary changes are checked for predicted energy efficiency and temperature levels, as well as any possuble safety repercussions, before being implemented. Google have reported energy savings of approximately 30% as a result of the use of DeepMind's cooling system. See also: Going green: technology's battle to save the planet The multinational search engine have been using a DeepMind cooling system for the last few months, but until this past week, the system merely offered recommendations for humans to accept or reject.

As an industry reliant on patient records and beset by outdated technology, health care is widely thought to be a prime target for an artificial intelligence revolution. Many believe the technology will provide a host of benefits to clinical practitioners, speeding up the overall experience and diagnosing illnesses early on to identify potential treatment. Just two days ago, DeepMind, an AI (artificial intelligence) firm owned by Google, said it had lent its technology to London's Moorfields Eye Hospital for groundbreaking research into detecting eye diseases. It was used to scan and identify more than 50 ophthalmological conditions. DeepMind's machine-learning technology made correct diagnoses 94 percent of the time, Moorfields said. The development indicated that AI can analyze health problems with as much accuracy as a doctor.