Block by block: Researchers use Minecraft to advance artificial intelligence

A Minecraft agent, operated by computer science master's student Ayushi Agrawal, explores a rainy environment. Researchers plan to test next-generation artificial intelligence skills within the game. Alan Wagner, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Penn State, and Sarah Rajtmajer, assistant professor of information sciences and technology, recently received a $900,000 grant from the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research to investigate next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) skills and perhaps make Steve a little smarter. The suggestion that people create abstract mental representations to plan for future events and solve multi-step tasks is identified in the literature as the Construal Level Theory, according to Wagner. People think about future events, consciously or unconsciously, using memories and experiences to generate a plan for a future situation.