Curious AI learns by exploring game worlds and making mistakes

I wonder what will happen if I press this button? Algorithms armed with a sense of curiosity are teaching themselves to discover and solve problems they've never encountered before. Faced with level one of Super Mario Bros, a curiosity-driven AI learned how to explore, avoid pits, and dodge and kill enemies. This might not sound impressive – algorithms have been thrashing humans at video games for a few years now – but this AI's skills all were all learned thanks to an inbuilt desire to discover more about the game world. Conventional AI algorithms are taught through positive reinforcement.