StarCraft II-playing AI AlphaStar takes out pros undefeated

Losing to the computer in StarCraft has been a tradition of mine since the first game came out in 1998. Of course, the built-in "AI" is trivial for serious players to beat, and for years researchers have attempted to replicate human strategy and skill in the latest version of the game. They've just made a huge leap with AlphaStar, which recently beat two leading pros 5-0. The new system was created by DeepMind, and in many ways it's very unlike what you might call a "traditional" StarCraft AI. The computer opponents you can select in the game are really pretty dumb -- they have basic built-in strategies, and know in general how to attack and defend and how to progress down the tech tree.