Sony AI Beats Top Gran Turismo Players, Signaling AI’s Growing Capabilities in Gaming

A Sony AI system called GT Sophy, trained using deep reinforcement learning, has outperformed 95% of human players on Gran Turismo Sport’s online leaderboards:

• GT Sophy was taught to drive in the PS4 racing simulator through a combination of rewards for successful actions and penalties for mistakes, allowing it to master the game in a matter of days.
• Despite GT Sophy having some innate advantages like knowing the position of rival cars, the AI still required 45,000 hours of virtual driving, spanning 20 PS4 consoles, to reach its top-tier performance level.

Overcoming challenges: Developers at Sony AI had to employ creative solutions to help GT Sophy learn critical racing skills:

• To teach the AI how to effectively overtake opponents, the system was rewarded for passing rival cars while being penalized if it was overtaken itself.
• Partnering with a competitive Gran Turismo player, the researchers focused on getting GT Sophy to master the trickiest sections of the game’s race tracks.

Head-to-head results: When pitted against some of the world’s best Gran Turismo players, GT Sophy’s capabilities were put to the test:

• Racing against the top four human GT drivers, four copies of GT Sophy beat the humans by a comfortable margin of 104 points to 54, with points awarded based on the cars’ finishing positions.

Implications for gaming and AI: While GT Sophy’s success may concern professional esports players, the AI’s advancement points to exciting possibilities in game development:

• The deep reinforcement learning techniques used to train GT Sophy could enable game developers to create more intelligent and engaging NPCs and in-game companions for players to interact with.
• Igor Babuskin from OpenAI suggests that this approach may allow developers to better design, test, and refine their games, while providing more compelling AI-driven opponents and allies.

Looking ahead: As AI continues to push boundaries in gaming and beyond, GT Sophy’s success in Gran Turismo raises intriguing questions about the future:

• With AI now capable of besting the world’s top players in certain games, it remains to be seen how the competitive gaming landscape will evolve and adapt to these technological advancements.
• GT Sophy’s achievements highlight the rapid progress of AI and its potential to revolutionize not only gaming but various industries where sophisticated decision-making and problem-solving are critical.
• However, the societal and economic implications of AI outperforming humans in an increasing number of domains will need to be carefully considered and addressed as the technology continues to evolve.