One of the world's most popular computer games will soon be open to many sophisticated AI players

Teaching computers to play the board game Go is impressive, but if we really want to push the limits of machine intelligence, perhaps they'll need to learn to rush a Zerg or set a trap for a horde of invading Protoss ships. StarCraft, a hugely popular space-fiction-themed strategy computer game, will soon be accessible to advanced AI players. Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind the game, and Google DeepMind, a subsidiary of Alphabet focused on developing general-purpose artificial intelligence, announced the move at a games conference today. Teaching computers to play StarCraft II expertly would be a significant milestone in artificial-intelligence research. Within the game, players must build bases, mine resources, and attack their opponents' outposts.