The triumph of a robot named Curly is the latest example of machines besting humans, but other big wins for the robots have been in digital environments; “with every throw, the ice changes.”

Humans are good at figuring out the intricate physics of object-ice interactions that affect how giant stones slide across a frozen surface. Machines, however, can freeze up in the real world. Curly, a new curling-playing robot, has a better handle on those complexities, thanks to an artificially intelligent brain that can quickly assess and map the icy environment, the state of play and optimal strategies for winning, according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics by a team of roboticists at Korea University in Seoul. The white, turtle-shaped robot, recently beat out elite curling South Korean players in a series of four matches, losing only once, according to the study. Curly's triumph is the latest example of machines besting humans at their own games--but it marks an important step forward: Other big wins for the robots have been in digital environments, where the physics of the real world didn't get in the way.

In less than 20 years, Alibaba has become one of the top ten largest companies in the world, primarily due to its success as an online retailer. The internet has changed the way that we shop, and as such the company is pumping money into research projects that will help ensure that it can keep up with the next game-changing advance in e-commerce.

Artificial intelligence programs built by Alibaba (BABA) and Microsoft (MSFT) have beaten humans on a Stanford University reading comprehension test. "This is the first time that a machine has outperformed humans on such a test," Alibaba said in a statement Monday. The test was devised by artificial intelligence experts at Stanford to measure computers' growing reading abilities. Alibaba's software was the first to beat the human score. Related: Google is opening an artificial intelligence center in China Luo Si, the chief scientist of natural language processing at the Chinese company's AI research group, called the milestone "a great honor," but also acknowledged that it is likely lead to a significant number of workers losing their jobs to machines.

Artificial intelligence programs built by Alibaba (BABA) and Microsoft (MSFT) have beaten humans on a Stanford University reading comprehension test. "This is the first time that a machine has outperformed humans on such a test," Alibaba said in a statement Monday. The test was devised by artificial intelligence experts at Stanford to measure computers' growing reading abilities. Alibaba's software was the first to beat the human score. Luo Si, the chief scientist of natural language processing at the Chinese company's AI research group, called the milestone "a great honor," but also acknowledged that it is likely lead to a significant number of workers losing their jobs to machines.