The next "Deep Blue" moment: Self-flying drone racing

In 1997, IBM's "Deep Blue" computer defeated grandmaster Gary Kasparov in a match of chess. It was an historic moment, marking the end of an era where humans could defeat machines in complex strategy games. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) bots can defeat humans in not only chess, but nearly every digital game that exists. However, while we're starting to see some progress with AI-proof-of concepts in motorsports, ping pong and even basketball, AI has yet to come close to beating humans in real-life physical sports. Doing so will require a major technical leap from today's state-of-the-art AI technology, advancing it to a place where AI can interact with, and make sense of, the physical world and unknown conditions, including physical contact from fellow racers or players – all while navigating a game strategy, race course, set of rules and other complex challenges.