Project Nero - wAIv of the future?

[Ein]

In an unusual demonstration of innovation with limited funding and resources, a mostly volunteer team of student programmers, artists, and researchers at the University of Texas at Austin has produced a new game genre in which players train robotic soldiers for combat.

Unlike most games today that use scripting for the AI, NPCs in NERO learn new tactics in real-time using advanced machine learning techniques. Perhaps projects such as this one will encourage the video game industry to begin to seek alternatives to simple scripted AI.

NERO introduces a new genre of video game that is only possible with machine learning technology: The player takes the role of trainer and teaches a team of novice soldiers the skills for battle. When sufficient skills have been acquired, players can take their teams to battle mode where their skills are tested against teames trained by other players.

Find out more, or even play the game, at: http://nn.cs.utexas.edu/NERO/