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After Go, Developers Are Now Building AI To Beat Us at Soccer (cnet.com)

After Google's AlphaGo artificial intelligence bested our best Go player, South Korea is now setting its sights on making AI that can play soccer. From a report: Hosted by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), the AI World Cup will see university students across South Korea developing AI programs to compete in a series of online games, reported The Korea Times. The prelims will begin in November. "The football matches will be conducted in a five on five tournament," a KAIST spokesperson told the publication on Tuesday. "Each of the five AI-programmed players in such positions as striker, defender and goalkeeper will compete with their counterparts."

123 comments

  1. Obligatory Futurama by Luthair · · Score: 2

    Bender: Now Wireless Joe Jackson, there was a blern-hitting machine!
    Leela: Exactly! He was a machine designed to hit blerns! I mean, come on, Wireless Joe was nothing but a programmable bat on wheels.
    Bender: Oh, and I suppose Pitchomat 5000 was just a modified howitzer?

    1. Re:Obligatory Futurama by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Oh, look who's cleaning up the filth! Is it a human child? I wish!

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  2. Not True AI by andydread · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    If you have to "develop" AI for a specific task (play games) or whatever then in my view it's not AI. I think AI should learn to do what ever task you throw at it.

    1. Re:Not True AI by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      If you have to "develop" AI for a specific task (play games) or whatever then in my view it's not AI. I think AI should learn to do what ever task you throw at it.

      Hey, I couldn't perfect my soccer game either. Does that make me not "naturally intelligent"?

      Anyhow, the definition fight over "AI" is a long and winding one. Might as well fight over Emacs vs. Vim.

    2. Re:Not True AI by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      We as people, are faced with tasks that we just cannot learn to do. Because of limitations in our perceptions, thing that we have no instincts to do or even bother trying to do. Or the fact we have specialized in a particular area, that trying to learn a new way would take too long to redo.

      The point of AI isn't to create a human replacement. But a tool that can process information from a human world.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:Not True AI by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Emacs is closer to being AI than Vim will ever be. ;)

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    4. Re:Not True AI by Ian+A.+Shill · · Score: 1, Funny

      If you have to assign it a task to learn, then it's not AI. I think AI should choose its own task to learn.

      --
      For hire.
    5. Re:Not True AI by gnick · · Score: 1

      If you have to "develop" AI for a specific task (play games) or whatever then in my view it's not AI. I think AI should learn to do what ever task you throw at it.

      Hey, I couldn't perfect my soccer game either. Does that make me not "naturally intelligent"?

      Obviously you're not naturally intelligent - You had to be taught to play soccer. If you'd possessed intelligence as sophisticated as OP describes, you would have just started playing.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    6. Re:Not True AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Emacs is closer to being AI than Vim will ever be. ;)

      retract that fucking bit.

    7. Re:Not True AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I built an AI and it decided to learn how to do nothing and it succeeded at it. OMG I created TRUE AI !

    8. Re:Not True AI by Kjella · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you have to "develop" AI for a specific task (play games) or whatever then in my view it's not AI. I think AI should learn to do what ever task you throw at it.

      They're working on that but trying to create an intuition of what's a stepping stone in the right direction has proven hard. It's mostly not how humans learn either. Even if you took someone off the street that's never played football, they've probably seen football. Or they got some basic idea of how it could be played based on analogies from other games. The totally blind approach would be like handing a tribe of Amazon Indians that's been in no contact with civilization the rule book and ask them to figure out how to play. So we're training the AI, but it's not anything like coaching a team. It's more like an armchair quarterback training, here's how a bunch of teams have played football. It doesn't even have to be the best teams, it's more about pruning the near infinite space of everybody doing everything to things that "makes sense".

      Then the AI starts doing variations on moves, counter movies, counter-counter moves and so on and refine it. Maybe it's not so glamorous for sci-fi, but at least for automation we're starting to see AIs that can take rather "fuzzy" tasks, look at what a bunch of humans are doing to solve it and start doing it to OCD-levels of perfection at the speed of a computer. That's a pretty big deal for a lot of trades where you essentially apply variations of a skill but where the particularities of the situation has kept it from being automated like an assembly line. As in, I think it will enable AIs to automate a lot of things people don't really think can be automated. And if you assemble lots of these little AIs you'll get more automated processes than looking at one in isolation.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    9. Re:Not True AI by shaitand · · Score: 1

      Apples and Oranges. Nobody said anything about perfecting soccer as GP indicated and they are not teaching the same AI that won go how to play soccer, they are building a new AI custom designed to win at soccer. Arguably AlphaGO wasn't even a single AI.

      The problem is the assumption that AI will beat humans at every given task. When we can interactively teach a running program a variety of tasks and have it perform on par with human subjects we've accomplished a human level AI. If we are trying to outperform humans with a program that has less processing power and memory than actual humans like AlphaGO we need specialized implementation. Also, there is the slight problem that the AI isn't truly intelligence until it is deciding for itself what it cares to learn and how it cares to spend it's time.

    10. Re:Not True AI by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

      handing a tribe of Amazon Indians that's been in no contact with civilization the rule book and ask them to figure out how to play.

      Scotland try that for every major tournament.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    11. Re:Not True AI by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Envy not thy mule dear friend. Envy not thy robot slave.

    12. Re: Not True AI by KGIII · · Score: 1

      You invented the average teen!

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  3. ANYthing could beat US in Soccer by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    low bar

    1. Re: ANYthing could beat US in Soccer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, it's all reactions and accuracy. Which machines destroy us at.

  4. 5-person, soccer-themed video game by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Developers Are Now Building AI To Beat Us at Some Crappy 5-Person-Per-Team, Soccer-Themed Video Game

    FTFY - no charge.

    1. Re:5-person, soccer-themed video game by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought beating the US was setting a low enough goal, but a video game of kids 5-a-side?... Wake me up when they can beat Germany or Brazil at real grown-up soccer.

  5. Huh? by Viol8 · · Score: 2

    Football (sorry americans, thats what the rest of the world calls it) games have had fairly decent "AI" players for years. This is hardly raising the bar. Now if they created real robots that could beat a human at football, THAT would be something to behold. Though I don't suspect Boston Dynamics will be worrying about their share price anytime soon over that possibility.

    1. Re:Huh? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1, Troll

      Football (sorry americans, thats what the rest of the world calls it)

      No need to apologize just because you're all wrong...

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:Huh? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Often a lot of video game "AI" are actually cheats.
      With predefined actions when something appears.
      Eg A Goalkeeper would be inactive until the ball is so many pixels away. Then it will move to to try to intercept the ball. Normally this is designed so the human player has a chance on getting it past it. An AI Goal Keeper may choose to leave the confines of the box, and help with defense. Seeing trends in the offset a fast kicker, or one that uses a lot of lift, or can do a curve, tends to favor the left or right.... A lot more details to solve then just to make sure the ball doesn't past the goal.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:Huh? by Kjella · · Score: 1

      No need to apologize just because you're all wrong...

      Except for throwing the ball, running with the ball and scoring the most points by not kicking the ball it's a great name! It's also telling that it takes an entire evening to get through a hour of game time... pauseball would be a better name.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    4. Re:Huh? by chthon · · Score: 1

      It's also called soccer in the Commonwealth.

    5. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And the term originated in England as nickname for "Association Football" to distinguish it from "Rugby Football". At the time adding "-er" on to the end of a word was a common slang way of informally naming things.

      The "Association League" after which "soccer" was named has long since been abandoned. And not all football was association league anyway.

      It would be like saying kids in American elementary schools are playing in the NFL when they play Amercan Football. Same rules, and people would know what you're talking about, but it isn't really 100% accurate.

      So yeah, lots of people call it soccer, the English are to blame for naming it that in the first place... but it isn't really an accurate term anymore.

    6. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The funny thing is that traditional football (pre-dating "soccer" by several hundred years), used A LOT more hands and tackling, not to mention standing around, throwing punching, and biting, than modern soccer or even Rugby, American, or Aussie Football.

      The closest thing to oirginal football is Italian Calcio Storico.

    7. Re:Huh? by gnick · · Score: 1

      ...predefined actions when something appears... Eg A Goalkeeper would be inactive until the ball is so many pixels away. Then it will move to to try to intercept the ball... An AI Goal Keeper may choose to leave the confines of the box, and help with defense.

      Choosing to leave the box and help with defense has nothing to do with whether or not the goal keeper posses AI. It just depends on the constraints placed on the problem he's presented and the logic he uses to resolve it. Are you suggesting that true AI will break loose of its programmed parameters?

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    8. Re:Huh? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Almost identical to ice hockey.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    9. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The "Association League" after which "soccer" was named has long since been abandoned.

      It's not like anyone followed the FA cup anyway...

  6. Not the point of Go by kelanos · · Score: 0

    The point of Go is not to get points, it's to be used as a simulation of real-life problems to increase your ability to reason abstractly.

    Go isn't a game, it's a language.
    Not too many people know that nowadays.

  7. Not that difficult by houghi · · Score: 1

    With how easy the walking robots fall over (we have all seen the videos), it should not be that hard.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  8. that apps apps LUDITTE guy needs to do AI next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AI is the most overhyped bullshit on the planet.

    1. Re:that apps apps LUDITTE guy needs to do AI next by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      Rewind one hundred years.

      Electricity is the most overhyped BS on the planet.

      Telephones are the most overhyped BS on the planet. People mostly use them for idle chatter. What use are they? Almost as bad as facetwit.

      Automobiles are way over hyped. They'll never be as popular as the beautiful traditional horse and buggy. Autos are noisy. Smelly. Difficult to start. Unreliable. If it backfires while you are cranking it, you could break your arm. And worst of all, automobiles frighten the horses. Automobiles are the most over hyped thing ever. Don't expect anything to come of these new fangled auto mobiles.

      Back to the present. AI, a type of technology, is so over hyped that it already takes away jobs that people could do.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  9. Code by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here's the code:

    if (in_posession_of_ball && opposition_near) {
          take_a_dive_but_pretend_you_were_fouled();
    }

    1. Re:Code by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      but_pretend_you_were_fouled

      Bender: "My shiny metal ass fell off! My shiny metal ass fell off!"

    2. Re:Code by Kjella · · Score: 1

      if (nationality = 'Italian' && in_posession_of_ball && opposition_near) {
                  take_a_dive_but_pretend_you_were_fouled();
      }
      else
      {
                  play_ball();
      }

      FTFY.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:Code by chill · · Score: 1

      Ah, you coded for one of the European teams.

      http://www.gocomics.com/getfuzzy/2010/7/11

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    4. Re:Code by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      nationality = 'Italian'

      Did you miss an "=" or did you intend to give an entire team Italian passports?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    5. Re:Code by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Here's the code:

      if (in_posession_of_ball && opposition_near) { take_a_dive_but_pretend_you_were_fouled(); }

      Correct. But the function name would be in Italian, though.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    6. Re:Code by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Here's the code:

      if (in_posession_of_ball && opposition_near) { take_a_dive_but_pretend_you_were_fouled(); }

      Fixed your code:

      while (FIFA_stubbornly_reject_video_control()) {
      ...
      }

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    7. Re:Code by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      Bender needs a new 3D printed plastic ass that has a better designed attachment mechanism.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    8. Re:Code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh you've never seen the S.Koreans play? Yeah after rolling around for a while, their med staff arrives with cans of "magic air" so spray on their kneecaps, etc.
      Yes you read that right- common cans of compressed air, (as used for flushing out keyboard crud & light industrial/household uses), are re-branded and labeled as medical air- to revive skin & bloodcells.

      Naturally the player springs back to life as if nothing happened.

  10. airbud 23 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "There is no rule that a dog can't coach a team of robots!"

  11. I'm not sure I'd really call chess and go bots AI by Solandri · · Score: 0

    To me, those are glorified tic-tac-toe programs. They're not "thinking" about how to win at the game, they are simply exhaustively searching the solution space to find moves whose branches give them the best chance of winning. Tic-tac-toe always ends up a tie with semi-competent players because its within the capability of humans to see the entire solution space and avoid moves which result in a loss. Computers are simply able to search a much larger solution space in the same amount of time as a human.

    Humans don't play chess and go like that. The solution space in those games is too massive for them to thoroughly search, so they have to resort to a different strategy. They learn patterns and trends from repeatedly playing the game. Then they develop algorithms and heuristics based on those patterns. When they play a new game, they try to determine which pattern the current game board best approximates, and apply the appropriate algorithm to decide what their next move would be. Program a computer to learn how to play like that - without searching the solution space - then I will be impressed. e.g. What's the best chess program you can write while limiting it to, say, a thousand iterative loops for each move?

  12. Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 0

    Has anyone read "Artificial Intelligence with Python" by Prateek Joshi? Is it any good?

    1. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      I keep seeing this. I suspect a spam campaign.

    2. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I keep seeing this. I suspect a spam campaign.

      Have you read the book?

    3. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, just creimer, being an obnoxious shilling cunt by spamming his affiliate links all over Slashdot so he can make a few pennies extra to afford power bars next month.

    4. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you go read it, and write a blog post with your thoughts on it, rather than shitting up Slashdot by spamming your affiliate links in content-free posts like this?

      Seriously, creimer - if you want to make money off sales of the guy's books, at LEAST know what's in them. Don't expect us to do your homework for you.

    5. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Why don't you go read it, and write a blog post with your thoughts on it, rather than shitting up Slashdot by spamming your affiliate links in content-free posts like this?

      I'm asking for opinions about the book before I buy it. I've been told that technical people still read Slashdot. You're obviously not one of them.

      Seriously, creimer - if you want to make money off sales of the guy's books, at LEAST know what's in them. Don't expect us to do your homework for you.

      I'm expecting you to whine. Every whine generates 3X more traffic than if no one said anything. I had 6X increase the other day. That was impressive.

    6. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 0

      Nope, just creimer, being an obnoxious shilling cunt by spamming his affiliate links all over Slashdot so he can make a few pennies extra to afford power bars next month.

      I just order a three-month supply of Cliff, FiberOne and PowerBar for $90 out of my regular paycheck. Money from Slashdot is going towards new ebook covers at $20 each.

    7. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I just order "

      ORDERED you fucking mongoloid!

    8. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      ORDERED you fucking mongoloid!

      Thank you, asshat!

    9. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell us about your habit of consuming powerbars in suppository form. Tweet about every object you fit up your fat ass.

      CAPTCHA "filthier"

      That's our creimer!

    10. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny that an "asshat" has better grammar than an "author"...

    11. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Creimer's a mouthy one, a real cock pleaser, knows how to suck his way to the top, he does.

    12. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Funny that an "asshat" has better grammar than an "author"...

      I left my editorial filter at home. You're getting my comments RAW.

    13. Re: Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And folks he admits it. Spam Campaign period. He is generating hate on slashdot and using it to get clicks. Please use your mod points to mod this guy down.

      He offers nothing to these discussions. Every other post from him now a days is "this book..use my link so i get teh $$$moneyZ". He hasn't even read these books.

      Also, yes people are clicking on your site. Then Seeing that it offers them shit, then leaving. Your site sucks. The layout sucks, it's riddled with ads in your face. Go fuck off please.

    14. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Python is 50 times slower than C++, but Python also allows to write in an easier way algorithms that are exponentially faster. O( n ) >> O( 50 log (n)) ..

      If speed becomes a factor, Cython comes into play

    15. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you rubbed your cock raw today? Do you need a load of lube squirted from another man's dick?

    16. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How much editing does it take to understand grade school grammar like verb tenses?

      https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-tenses/

    17. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      How much editing does it take to understand grade school grammar like verb tenses?

      Editing requires time. Time I don't have when I'm posting on Slashdot, as I'm multitasking other items at work. Besides, it gives the budding grammar nazis something to do.

    18. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you seen a doctor about the hemorrhoids budding from your fat anus? You must have impacted shit from all the shitposting you do all day instead of working.

    19. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I got Amazon Dot. Where are my cock eggs?

    20. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not editing, you cretin. Getting a verb tense correct should come naturally, but you have some sort of undiagnosed condition preventing this.

      "Time I don't have when I'm posting on Slashdot"

      Yes, vitally important to get your sickness posted ASAP rather than taking time and pride and effort to master what children are taught at age ten.

      Congratulations, creimer, not only will you never have kids, you'll never even match their level of education, I said askance.

    21. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      It's not editing, you cretin.

      If I have to go back to correct, than it's editing.

      Getting a verb tense correct should come naturally [...]

      Grammar has never come naturally to me. It wasn't until a college English instructor offered a Saturday class for extra help, where I told her I couldn't explain why a sentence was grammatically correct but it "felt" right to me. She then explained why it was grammatically correct. Doing something that no other English instructor before her have ever done because grammar is supposed to come "naturally.".

      [...] but you have some sort of undiagnosed condition preventing this.

      Or I could be doing this on purpose.

    22. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I want a raw cock egg straight from creimer's fat dick and still warm and streaked with pus and blood.

    23. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    24. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You had 6X increase to your waistline

    25. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Sitting on two chairs at once isn't really "multitasking", Chris.

      I don't have a standing desk, so I don't need to stack chairs.

    26. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I said askance.

      "Oh, my sides," I gasped lustily. "You must be a real carpet muncher," I said, eyeing you upright, with my dark nipples shining lazily in the sloppy wherewithal of your meaty gaze.

    27. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How many chairs do you break per month?

    28. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Grammar has never come naturally to me.

      All the more reason to take a few extra moments to make sure you're not spouting random gibberish.

      She then explained why it was grammatically correct. Doing something that no other English instructor before her have ever done because grammar is supposed to come "naturally."

      Sorry, creimer, but those of us who weren't locked in the special ed rubber room for our k-12 years actually were taught the rules of grammar by our English teachers. Nobody just expected it to come "naturally," we were taught, and we studied, and we practiced.

      You seem to hold Stephen King in high regard as an author... do you think he'd ever suggest that someone who wants to be a writer should completely disregard common English grammatical constructs, such as tenses?

      Here's an answer in grammar you seem capable of parsing: he will not had better done that never at any time at all.

    29. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      How many chairs do you break per month?

      None. Next stupid question.

    30. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If I have to go back to correct, than it's editing."

      No, if you have to go back to correct, that's called "correcting". That's why there's two different words, you cockroach. And it's THEN, not THAN. Another simple distinction entirely lost on you.

      "Or I could be doing this on purpose."

      Yes, the standard response from an 8 year old. The only thing you are doing on purpose is shilling your Amazon links, everything else is down to your natural, innate, genetic idiocy.

    31. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Here's an answer in grammar you seem capable of parsing: he will not had better done that never at any time at all.

      I suggest you read "On Writing," where Stephen King confessed his literary sins that got through the editorial process. Most of his early horror novels were written in a drug haze, some of which he had no recollection of ever writing.

    32. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If speed becomes a factor, Cython comes into play

      No, if speed becomes a factor, then you choose a better language than python for doing your performance-intensive work.

    33. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      No, if speed becomes a factor, then you choose a better language than python for doing your performance-intensive work.

      Python is written in C. If you want to speed something up in Python, you can write it as a C extension. Or you can compile a carefully written subset of Python code into C with Cython.

    34. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suggest you read "On Writing," where Stephen King confessed his literary sins that got through the editorial process. Most of his early horror novels were written in a drug haze, some of which he had no recollection of ever writing.

      I've read it. Apparently reading comprehension is not your forte, either. Nowhere in that book does Mr. King suggest that disregard of clear, grammatically correct English is a virtue.

    35. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haven't you compiled your python interpreter with --funroll-loops to make it faster?

    36. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you were asking for opinons why are you using an affiliate link?

    37. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I keep seeing this. I suspect a spam campaign.

      Have you read the book?

      No, but at least I've read *a* book.

    38. Re:Google still programs in Python? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If you were asking for opinons why are you using an affiliate link?

      Compensation for the abuse I get on Slashdot.

    39. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For someone so large, you have awfully thin skin. You don't actually know what "abuse" is. Real abuse victims avoid the source of abuse, even an animal can figure that out.

    40. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I would use plain C or Ruby or something, but in any case, if you realize that speed is non-optimal and you decide it matters, you just move the algorithm into a library written in C/C++ and now your scripting language is as fast as anything again.

      They solved this problem in the 1990s. Probably earlier, too, but it does get re-invented constantly.

    41. Re:Google still programs in Python? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do UCS blades sit on an IO bus - shouldn't they have 2 IO cards in them instead? For redundancy?

  13. Re:I'm not sure I'd really call chess and go bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is not how Go and chess ai works. Chess ai does not exhaustively search the entire solution space, rather it usually uses heuristics in order to find out which parts of the move tree contains the best solutions.
    Go AI is a bit different altogether, as it uses a neural network (at least AlphaGo does) in order to match patterns of play. It was first trained using games between professionals, and later by letting it play against itself.
    None of these types exhaustively searches the solution space, which would imply running through EVERY SINGLE possible game. For chess that is somewhere around 10^120, for Go over 10^300 - way too large to compute efficiently.

  14. how many ea coins will they get from that? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    how many ea coins will they get from that?

  15. Re:I'm not sure I'd really call chess and go bots by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, it's absolutely not about brute-force searching. The search space for Go is so massive that even the fastest computers really can't do exhaustive, brute-force searches for a solution. That's part of what made an AI winning at high-level Go such a milestone. To give you some context: the search space for Go is significantly larger than the estimated number of atoms in the universe.

    I agree that it's a bit silly to call these algorithms "AI", but they're not nearly as simplistic as you're making them out to be. To be effective, the algorithms have to do a massive amount of heuristics-based culling before it can start searching for solutions, or else it would get bogged down in the math, no matter how fast it was.

    --
    Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  16. Soccer? Never heard of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now football is a real sport. Unlike American football

  17. Pah! Soccer! by petes_PoV · · Score: 1

    South Korea is now setting its sights on making AI that can play soccer

    Playing soccer (aka football) is the easy bit: kick and miss.

    But will the AI be able to convincingly roll around on the ground just inside the penalty box? And more importantly will it be able to deal with the paparazzi and make vacuous statements like "it was a game of two halves" and "if we'd only scored more, we could have won".

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  18. football is ambigious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Association football is the correct name for the sport you are trying to describe.

    Football includes a very large number of related sports, there is no single sport that is the true football. Some nations have officially tried to redefine the word "football" to apply exclusively to "association football" but bureaucrats don't have the authority to redefine language to be less precise.

  19. What's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    An AI that can beat the best human players at Madden?

  20. The best soccer predictions so far ... by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    were made by an octopus.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  21. So many footballs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When you say "football" do you mean Gaelic football, Rugby football, or Association football (soccer is a shortened form of this). I assume you aren't referring to something obscure like Shrovetide Football.

    1. Re:So many footballs by AncalagonTotof · · Score: 1

      I guess he means the football game played with feet, not hands.

      --
      Totof
    2. Re: So many footballs by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Which one is that? I can't think of any that exclusively use their feet.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  22. Re:You're all a bunch of faggots! by DickBreath · · Score: 1

    Hey, be nice. Even straight people might feel threatened by AI. Now that Google can beat humans at purely intellectual challenges, like Go; they need AI to beat humans at physical challenges like soccer, and the locker room activities that follow. But no need to worry about the potential downsides of AI.

    A guy worked at a coal mine. The coal mine closed.
    So he got a job as an auto assembly line worker. His job was replaced by a robot that could do the job faster, more accurately and cheaper.
    So he became a truck driver, because those trucks aren't going to drive themselves.

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  23. Google still programs in Python? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    Python is 50 times slower than C++, but Python also allows to write in an easier way algorithms that are exponentially faster. O( n ) >> O( 50 log (n)) ..

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  24. They got it slightly wrong... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have no idea what KAIST is up to in November, but Robocup doesn't have anything to do with it.
    In Robocup we've been playing robot-soccer for decades, also with real robots. Always completely autonomous.
    The next World Championship is in a couple of weeks in Nagoya, Japan: https://robocup2017.org/eng/index.html
    And if you're curious what 5 vs 5 with real humanoid robots looks like, check out our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/htwk-robots

  25. Not soccer by XXongo · · Score: 1, Informative
    An AI will be terrible at playing soccer, because you can put 11 computers on a soccer field running whatever program you want, and no matter how good the AI they are running, they will just sit there. Soccer is a physical game, played on a physical playing field. The human players will dribble around the computers sitting on the field and kick the ball in the net.

    Now, turn those AIs into robots and you may have something.

    But what the article is talking about is not AIs that can play soccer, it is AIs that can play a soccer-themed online video game.

    1. Re:Not soccer by gnick · · Score: 1

      An AI will be terrible at playing soccer, because you can put 11 computers on a soccer field running whatever program you want, and no matter how good the AI they are running, they will just sit there.

      WTF is "an" AI? Yes, if you put a computer on a field, it will sit there. If you set it to run a simulation, it will simulate playing. If you set it to control soccer-playing robots, it'll play a game. Its strategy will be determined by what is being referred to as AI.

      But what the article is talking about is not AIs that can play soccer, it is AIs that can play a soccer-themed online video game.

      No, it's about AI that can manage the decisions involved with playing soccer. Those decisions are being tested by simulating a game. You could test them by taking the steps to make that game physical. I don't know what "an" AI is capable of because I don't know what "an" AI is.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:Not soccer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The term AI can be used to describe the algorithm, the program running the algorithm, or the system running the program. If you were playing on a physical field, that system would be an appropriately implemented, physical AI. HAL 9000 isn't AI because it has a physical implementation?

  26. Already a reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We can't compete with robot soccer. http://imgur.com/1Yfuwrn

  27. RoboCup? by schweini · · Score: 1

    Well, the RoboCup has it's goals set way higher for decades now!

    Id like to see Robo Baseball! Seems like a lower-hanging fruit.

  28. Been done since 1997 (!) by TentativeFate · · Score: 1

    "The first official RoboCup games and conference was held in 1997 with great success. Over 40 teams participated (real and simulation combined), and over 5,000 spectators attended." [http://www.robocup.org/a_brief_history_of_robocup]

    By "real and simulation" they mean that AI has been playing soccer for more than 20 years, both in simulation (as in TFA) and in real, physical robots.
    Welcome to the world of AI research, South Korean!

    (To be fair, it's probably some reporter's snafu, rather than a researcher's.)

  29. AI about to learn cheating then by AncalagonTotof · · Score: 1

    Talking about soccer, the football game played with feet: can't bear watching a game.
    Overpaid players who miss everything they can, and who prefer to cheat, pulling shirts or worse, instead of fighting for the ball and the goal.
    Disgusting.

    --
    Totof
  30. Bipedal robots beating us at soccer ... by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    ... now that would be interesting. Give, they'd probably kick the ball at 300km/h, unstoppable for mere mortals, scoring goals from every position and across the field.

    But it would be a neat step forward in engineering none-the-less.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  31. What is an AI [Re:Not soccer] by XXongo · · Score: 1

    An AI will be terrible at playing soccer, because you can put 11 computers on a soccer field running whatever program you want, and no matter how good the AI they are running, they will just sit there.

    WTF is "an" AI?

    An AI is a program, running on a computer, that simulates intelligence and/or solves problems in the way an intelligence solves them.

    .... I don't know what "an" AI is capable of because I don't know what "an" AI is....

    Now you do.

    You're welcome.

    1. Re:What is an AI [Re:Not soccer] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An AI is a program, running on a computer, that simulates intelligence and/or solves problems in the way an intelligence solves them.

      As defined by... You? Also, what is an intelligence and how does it solve problems? Can I buy one? I'll take 3 intelligences please; 2 real and 1 artificial. No sweetener.

    2. Re:What is an AI [Re:Not soccer] by gnick · · Score: 1

      An AI will be terrible at playing soccer, because you can put 11 computers on a soccer field running whatever program you want, and no matter how good the AI they are running, they will just sit there.

      WTF is "an" AI?

      An AI is a program, running on a computer, that simulates intelligence and/or solves problems in the way an intelligence solves them.

      So once you attach a motor to "an AI", it ceases to be "an AI"?

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    3. Re: What is an AI [Re:Not soccer] by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      Nope. You can't buy it, and you have shown that you don't have it, so you are SOL I'm afraid.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    4. Re: What is an AI [Re:Not soccer] by KGIII · · Score: 1

      No. Then it is an AI with a motor attached. Sheesh...

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  32. Yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This type of research will really make a difference in people's quality of life. :/ Yet another example of how easy it is for the average team of engineers to thoroughly lose the plot. Then again, maybe playing games is all 'AI' is good for. I think both are likely.

  33. I read: Beat US at Soccer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...but that wouldn't be much of a challenge!

  34. Football by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's spelled F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L you fucking idiots.

  35. Re:I'm not sure I'd really call chess and go bots by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    I remember in 1998 I downloaded a new chess program and somebody asked if computers were the end of chess. My father said, "No, and airplanes didn't end running."

  36. Re:I'm not sure I'd really call chess and go bots by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    But for context, top chess engines added strong non-brute-force algorithms 20 years ago, and they've had pruning of bad lines for longer than that. So even when they're saying "brute force," it isn't really and doesn't add up to silly numbers like the atoms in the universe, which is just %$&^!*@.
    The problem with Go was always, according to the chess programmers, a problem of programming hours. There were simply more people working on chess software. The newer results are exactly as predicted; it is a matter of algorithms, and Go is more like a self-driving car than it is like chess. But still, they're also similar. The problem space isn't a list of every possible legal move, but rather whatever the list of known strategies is. In Go, as in chess, they had help from top professionals in the sport to get useful algorithms into the software. Then the software just drives through the strategies, and brute-forces the things that it "knows" contextually. But that is what all software does anyways, so it isn't even AI. It is just a sort of semantic calculator.

  37. Non-affiliate link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  38. Non-affiliate link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  39. First thing I thought of reading the headline by PJ6 · · Score: 1

    was of some dude curled up in a fetal position on the ground, screaming and holding his shin.