I read an article in this month's CGM about Black and White, and they were talking about how the AI has passed tests that no AI has ever passed before. Sounds pretty impressive! Some of the things that your creature will do sound pretty fun, too.

Also, Tom, I read your interview (with the convict!) in that magazine, and my wife kept commenting about your writing, word for word, your problems with the tape recorder. I couldn't help but think of Trevor!

Well, actually they say something like, Molyneaux wanted the AI to be able to pass the Turing test. They don't actually come out and make that claim--which is good, because they'd be, ummm, mistaken.

That said, the game does sound intriguing regardless, and I look forward to playing it.

"Also, Tom, I read your interview (with the convict!) in that magazine, and my wife kept commenting about your writing, word for word, your problems with the tape recorder. I couldn't help but think of Trevor!"

Yeah, I'm not exactly known for my technical saavy. :)

-Tom

I've been looking forward to this one for a long time, if it does what PM wanted it to do. I've been playing Sacrifice lately, and like it a lot, but could do with something a little slower-paced, if you know what I mean.

"Well, actually they say something like, Molyneaux wanted the AI to be able to pass the Turing test. They don't actually come out and make that claim--which is good, because they'd be, ummm, mistaken."

Perhaps you could fill in those of us who aren't familiar -- what is the Turing test?

I must have mis-read it, because I was pretty impressed. I thought that they had done something that had never been done before. At any rate, they did say that they showed it off at MIT.

"I've been playing Sacrifice lately"

Sacrifice is a great game. I am playing it though for the 2nd time right now. The combinations of creatures and spells lead to a lot of different strategies. I find myself saving after every level and going back to try different branches to see what the spells and creatures do.

BTW, I am also looking forward to B&W. Although it doesn't really sound like the same type of game, although nothing is really like Sacrifice.

In order to pass the Turing test, an AI must be indistinguishable from a human operator. Unfortunately, the test is vague and doesn't specify how to distinguish AI vs. human, nor does it specify who you need to convince. You could argue that some chat bots fool people for a while, but I doubt anyone would consider them to have passed the Turing test.

I suspect the AI in Black and White might come close from a behavioral standpoint, but I doubt anyone is going to mistake the creatures for human -level constructs. I find it more interesting from a machine-learning perspective, something that as I understand it, was scrapped from the Age of Empires AI.

- Alan

Thanks for filling us in, Alan. It sounds like it's either incredibly easy to pass or incredibly difficult, depending on your audience. You can fool some of the people some of the time...

So, what's your opinion, Alan -- will it ever be done? I almost think that we're coming close, yet at the same time, I don't know if it's possible. Humans are just so -- illogical.

Murph: So, what's your opinion, Alan -- will it ever be done?

Sure, yeah, I think we'll eventually come up with something that is for all practical purposes a human level AI. Maybe a very stupid one, but hopefully useful enough to put into a speech controlled robot or something.

- Alan

"BTW, I am also looking forward to B&W. Although it doesn't really sound like the same type of game, although nothing is really like Sacrifice."

That's the beauty of it, isn't it? There isn't anything like either of these games out there. They are both very fresh concepts. If B&W plays out well, and Sacrifice sells well, it could be the beginning of a really great time for gamers. I've got my AOE2 (an evolutionary, if not really revolutionary masterwork), my Sacrifice (fresh and beautiful), and now, Black and White (gorgeous, with the potential for a totally new kind of game). Gee, it's so...Christmas!

The idea of a computer using my own ideas against me is almost terrifying but I think that AI learning is the wave of the future. Not only does it grow along with you in single player but would make for some intresting online challenges. We wouldnt even need humans for online play! "My AI will beat yours any day of the week"
Its still aways off thoguh. Human straegies often rely on complex actions and situational adaption. Which are very hard for a computer to succesfuly reinact. The human brain can still process imformation many times faster than home computers.

Computers are starting to learn tohguh. I clipped an atricle a while back about a university experiment where a computer was challegned to take some simple parts and build a robot that would move. It ran thoguh hundreds of simulations using a survival of the fittest model and eventualy did it.

I would expect to see this kind of AI in a game that filters down from the millitary first, like Real War then branch out.

The Matrix may get us but atleast were not living in borring times. :)
Shining One