Diplomacy game AI can negotiate, form alliances, and persuade people

Meta has debuted a new AI capable of besting human opponents in the game of Diplomacy. The game has been seen "as a near-impossible grand challenge" for AI, Meta wrote in a blog post about the AI, called CICERO. Diplomacy is especially difficult, even compared to complex games like chess and go, because it requires a mastery not of hard and fast rules, but of soft skills. Players must know the art of understanding other people's perspectives and needs, wants and wonts; make complex, living plans that can change with human whims; and then persuade other players to work with them and against others. Because it relies on social -- not strategic, logical, or mathematical -- skills, Diplomacy has long been seen as a "near-impossible" challenge for an AI.