Google DeepMind has just announced a partnership with the development team behind EVE Online to explore new frontiers of AI research in gaming environments.
Developments
The universe of EVE Online is renowned for its complexity and is entirely player-driven. DeepMind views this as a safe and ideal 'sandbox' to test AI agents' memory, continual learning, and long-term planning capabilities in a highly social and economically interactive environment.
Why It Matters
Games have long served as training grounds for AI (such as AlphaGo or StarCraft II). However, EVE Online presents a much higher level of strategic complexity and real-time demands. The findings from this research could be applied to building agents capable of complex decision-making in the real world, where variables are constantly changing and require long-term vision.