Artificial Intelligence Poker Bot Drafted For US Military - Report

The AI poker-playing bot, which initially became popular after it hit a hot streak against top poker players in tournaments in 2017, has been reportedly "hired" by a Pentagon agency -- the Defense Innovation Unit, according to the report. After the computational game theory-based Libratus won more than $1.8 million in a poker championship, defeating four poker professionals, Tuomas Sandholm -- the head of the project under which the AI mechanism was created -- reportedly founded a startup called Strategy Robot, which is primarily aimed at adapting the poker AI for military use in such areas as simulations and planning. In June 2018 the US Department of Defense created the Joint Artificial Intelligence Centre (JAIC), designed to accelerate "the delivery of AI-enabled capabilities, scaling the Department-wide impact of AI and synchronizing DoD AI activities to expand Joint Force advantages." The centre will oversee around 600 AI projects and has a five-year, $1.7 billion budget, according to reports.