Google's DeepMind to use 'messy' world of StarCraft for AI research

Google's DeepMind is teaming up with Blizzard Entertainment Inc. to open up the world of the game StarCraft II to artificial intelligence researchers. DeepMind Staff Research Scientist Oriol Vinyals (above) announced the new partnership today during Blizzcon, Blizzard's annual convention held in Anaheim, Calif. According to Vinyals, who is himself a longtime StarCraft player, Blizzard will be releasing a StarCraft II application programming interface early next year that will allow researchers to build and train AI agents to play the game. "For StarCraft players like myself, advances in AI could deal some drastic benefits," Vialys said. "For example, we might see more interesting AI opponents for a variety of skill levels or AI coaches that can help players improve. And there's still a long way to go, but maybe we'll even see an agent take on the Blizzcon champion in a show match."