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 curious beauty


GTA V Deer Cam: the curious beauty of wandering AI animals (Wired UK)

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You'll always have more fun with Grand Theft Auto when you prioritise chaos over common sense. So perhaps it's not such a surprise that watching an artificial deer'play' the game, with no purpose, has become an instant hit online. In essence, 'San Andreas Deer Cam' by digital artist Brent Watanabe is simple; instead of a human avatar or player, the game focuses instead on a single deer which is controlled by an artificial intelligence. With no direction from the artist, the deer wanders and trots around the 100 square miles of San Andreas, and interacts with its other AI inhabitants. What it surprising is how complex and oddly resonant the interactions of the deer turn out to be; in what is a testament to the AI skills of Rockstar as much as Watanabe, its adventures are peculiarly complex.