DeepMind: The Podcast

Video games have become a favourite tool for AI researchers to test the abilities of their systems. In this episode, Hannah sits down to play StarCraft II - a challenging video game that requires players to control the onscreen action with as many as 800 clicks a minute. She is guided by Oriol Vinyals, an ex-professional StarCraft player and research scientist at DeepMind, who explains how the program AlphaStar learnt to play the game and beat a top professional player. Elsewhere, she explores systems that are learning to cooperate in a digital version of the playground favourite ‘Capture the Flag’.If you have a question or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter (@DeepMind using the hashtag #DMpodcast) or emailing us at podcast@deepmind.com.Further readingThe Economist: Why AI researchers like video gamesDeepMind blogs: Capture the Flag and AlphastarProfessional StarCraft II player MaNa gives his impressions of AlphaStar and DeepMindOpen AI’s work on Dota 2 The New York Times: DeepMind can now beat us