Artificial Intelligence Gets Some Help From Football Players

Just what computer scientists want - dumb jocks getting all of the credit for artificial intelligence. Or maybe computer scientists are simply letting football players think they matter, and they are really just data. For artificial intelligence to get out of its 20-year rut, a computer has to be able to observe a complex operation, learn how to do it, and then optimize those operations or accomplish other related tasks. What if a computer could watch video of football plays, learn from them, and then design plays and control players in a football simulation or video game? As it turns out, football is very complex, and computers struggle to see and understand plays a coach or even an average fan would find routine, just like a 4-year-old could see a cartoon drawing of a chicken and say "that's a chicken" while a computer could not.