Unity and Google Cloud Platform launch challenge to push limits of game AI

Unity Technologies has teamed up with Google Cloud Platform to create the Obstacle Tower Challenge, which will test the limits of artificial intelligence in games. In the first-of-its-kind contest, Google will offer a prize of cash, travel vouchers, and Google Cloud Platform credits, valued at more than $100,000. Unity, the maker of the Unity game engine, is creating the contest to test the capabilities of intelligent agents and accelerate the research and development of AI. (Unity recently got in a spat with Improbable over a licensing dispute.) The Obstacle Tower Challenge will be a new benchmark aimed at testing the vision, control, planning, and generalization abilities of AI systems -- capabilities that no other benchmark has tested together before. Above: The Obstacle Tower Challenge offers $100,000 in prizes.