The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Will we ever see computers that think for themselves? Even if we get there, how can we tell where pre-programmed characteristics end and intelligence begins?
These are questions that game programmers used to ask themselves all the time. As technology developed, it seemed obvious that, one day, computer characters would think for themselves.
Now developers seem to have all but given up on the idea of AI. Instead they fake the whole process. Halo has very little actual AI (ironically it is this that the game is highly acclaimed for). Instead the programmers have created hundreds of pre-set routines that the computer characters will follow to mimic intelligence. Hide behind cover and the computer characters will thrown grenades to force you out. There is no intelligence at work here- it's just a sub routine that the character follows.
So what's sparked the change?
Firstly, more can be acheived by pre-programming than by teaching a real AI. Think about it. What are the chances of an AI throwing grenades in the way described above? The only way to get the AI to do this would be to develop a massively complex one... which is not only costly, but would probably result in an AI so strong that the player could never win. (Such a thing happened in the development of Alien vs. Predator in which the enemy would easily destroy you almost immediately).
Secondly, it's been realised that trying to get closer to an actual AI is pointless- it's an impossible task. What makes us intelligent? It's not the fact that we can make logical decisions, it's the fact that we can make illogical ones based on out feelings. I do something because it feels right- not because I've checked every possibility and this is the best.
And that is where technology fails us- computers only understand instructions. They can follow routines easily, but they themselves cannot make judgements without them. Computers will have to be able to "feel" before they can think, and this is simply beyond are development of technology.
You know, the idea of faking an AI isn't new at all. Chuckie Egg faked its whole physics engine! Objects fell in parabolas, and you bounced off platforms in a realistic way. This was not because the physics was brilliant, but because the game was programmed with preset falling routines and bounce routines. And you know what? The game was highy revered for it's physics engine!
Maybe AI is a myth after all. Than again, perhaps there's a deceptively simple idea that everyone has missed....
Sonic
These are questions that game programmers used to ask themselves all the time. As technology developed, it seemed obvious that, one day, computer characters would think for themselves.
Now developers seem to have all but given up on the idea of AI. Instead they fake the whole process. Halo has very little actual AI (ironically it is this that the game is highly acclaimed for). Instead the programmers have created hundreds of pre-set routines that the computer characters will follow to mimic intelligence. Hide behind cover and the computer characters will thrown grenades to force you out. There is no intelligence at work here- it's just a sub routine that the character follows.
So what's sparked the change?
Firstly, more can be acheived by pre-programming than by teaching a real AI. Think about it. What are the chances of an AI throwing grenades in the way described above? The only way to get the AI to do this would be to develop a massively complex one... which is not only costly, but would probably result in an AI so strong that the player could never win. (Such a thing happened in the development of Alien vs. Predator in which the enemy would easily destroy you almost immediately).
Secondly, it's been realised that trying to get closer to an actual AI is pointless- it's an impossible task. What makes us intelligent? It's not the fact that we can make logical decisions, it's the fact that we can make illogical ones based on out feelings. I do something because it feels right- not because I've checked every possibility and this is the best.
And that is where technology fails us- computers only understand instructions. They can follow routines easily, but they themselves cannot make judgements without them. Computers will have to be able to "feel" before they can think, and this is simply beyond are development of technology.
You know, the idea of faking an AI isn't new at all. Chuckie Egg faked its whole physics engine! Objects fell in parabolas, and you bounced off platforms in a realistic way. This was not because the physics was brilliant, but because the game was programmed with preset falling routines and bounce routines. And you know what? The game was highy revered for it's physics engine!
Maybe AI is a myth after all. Than again, perhaps there's a deceptively simple idea that everyone has missed....
Sonic
Page:
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Will we ever see computers that think for themselves? Even if we get there, how can we tell where pre-programmed characteristics end and intelligence begins?
These are questions that game programmers used to ask themselves all the time. As technology developed, it seemed obvious that, one day, computer characters would think for themselves.
Now developers seem to have all but given up on the idea of AI. Instead they fake the whole process. Halo has very little actual AI (ironically it is this that the game is highly acclaimed for). Instead the programmers have created hundreds of pre-set routines that the computer characters will follow to mimic intelligence. Hide behind cover and the computer characters will thrown grenades to force you out. There is no intelligence at work here- it's just a sub routine that the character follows.
So what's sparked the change?
Firstly, more can be acheived by pre-programming than by teaching a real AI. Think about it. What are the chances of an AI throwing grenades in the way described above? The only way to get the AI to do this would be to develop a massively complex one... which is not only costly, but would probably result in an AI so strong that the player could never win. (Such a thing happened in the development of Alien vs. Predator in which the enemy would easily destroy you almost immediately).
Secondly, it's been realised that trying to get closer to an actual AI is pointless- it's an impossible task. What makes us intelligent? It's not the fact that we can make logical decisions, it's the fact that we can make illogical ones based on out feelings. I do something because it feels right- not because I've checked every possibility and this is the best.
And that is where technology fails us- computers only understand instructions. They can follow routines easily, but they themselves cannot make judgements without them. Computers will have to be able to "feel" before they can think, and this is simply beyond are development of technology.
You know, the idea of faking an AI isn't new at all. Chuckie Egg faked its whole physics engine! Objects fell in parabolas, and you bounced off platforms in a realistic way. This was not because the physics was brilliant, but because the game was programmed with preset falling routines and bounce routines. And you know what? The game was highy revered for it's physics engine!
Maybe AI is a myth after all. Than again, perhaps there's a deceptively simple idea that everyone has missed....
Sonic
These are questions that game programmers used to ask themselves all the time. As technology developed, it seemed obvious that, one day, computer characters would think for themselves.
Now developers seem to have all but given up on the idea of AI. Instead they fake the whole process. Halo has very little actual AI (ironically it is this that the game is highly acclaimed for). Instead the programmers have created hundreds of pre-set routines that the computer characters will follow to mimic intelligence. Hide behind cover and the computer characters will thrown grenades to force you out. There is no intelligence at work here- it's just a sub routine that the character follows.
So what's sparked the change?
Firstly, more can be acheived by pre-programming than by teaching a real AI. Think about it. What are the chances of an AI throwing grenades in the way described above? The only way to get the AI to do this would be to develop a massively complex one... which is not only costly, but would probably result in an AI so strong that the player could never win. (Such a thing happened in the development of Alien vs. Predator in which the enemy would easily destroy you almost immediately).
Secondly, it's been realised that trying to get closer to an actual AI is pointless- it's an impossible task. What makes us intelligent? It's not the fact that we can make logical decisions, it's the fact that we can make illogical ones based on out feelings. I do something because it feels right- not because I've checked every possibility and this is the best.
And that is where technology fails us- computers only understand instructions. They can follow routines easily, but they themselves cannot make judgements without them. Computers will have to be able to "feel" before they can think, and this is simply beyond are development of technology.
You know, the idea of faking an AI isn't new at all. Chuckie Egg faked its whole physics engine! Objects fell in parabolas, and you bounced off platforms in a realistic way. This was not because the physics was brilliant, but because the game was programmed with preset falling routines and bounce routines. And you know what? The game was highy revered for it's physics engine!
Maybe AI is a myth after all. Than again, perhaps there's a deceptively simple idea that everyone has missed....
Sonic
Page: