DeepMind's AI Shows Itself to Be a World-Beating World Builder

At the end of 2018, Dario "TLO" Wünsch, a well-known professional gamer from Germany, was ranked 42nd in the world in the video game StarCraft II. He'd lost some--especially as he battled debilitating carpal tunnel syndrome--but he'd won enough to still be considered among the world's best players. But last week, as he sat before his screen executing the unorthodox moves that have become his signature, he watched helplessly as his opponent slaughtered his armies and laid waste to his StarCraft II kingdom. There was no fist-pumping excitement coming from TLO's opponent. The German gamer lost to an artificial intelligence agent created by DeepMind Technologies as part of its mission to push the boundaries of AI. The company, which is measuring its progress by testing its algorithms' ability to play StarCraft II, is celebrating a major milestone: the introduction last week of AlphaStar, its StarCraft II player.