Why does AI stink at certain video games? Researchers made one play Ms. Pac-Man to find out

STOCKHOLM--Artificial intelligence (AI) can kick butt in games such as Pong and Space Invaders, but it comes off like a common n00b when playing Ms. Pac-Man (pictured). Now, by making AI play six classic arcade games, researchers are closer to figuring out why thinking machines excel at some games and stink at others, they reported last month at the International Conference on Machine Learning here. The team developed a new system for visualizing how Atari-playing AIs operate. They chose Atari because the games are relatively simple and a frequent focus for researchers developing "reinforcement learning" algorithms, AIs that learn behaviors through trial and error. An AI "sees" the screen (as an input of ones and zeroes) and at first randomly responds with commands for "left," "right," "fire," and so on, slowly shaping its strategy as it receives points for certain actions.