Humans prevailed over AI bots in Dota 2 match

The International is a
huge esports event.
Jeff Vinnick/Getty
Images

• A team of human pro gamers have beaten a team of AI
  bots created by an AI company cofounded by Elon
  Musk.
• The team of bots have previously consistently defeated
  non-professional players at the game.
• The bots still have the chance to steal victory in the
  next two matches.

When AI research company’s OpenAI’s team of bots
first defeated a teams of puny humans at the video game Dota 2 in
June, Bill Gates hailed it as a “milestone.” However, when
pitched against professional players, the bots were defeated — at
least in an initial match.

We first saw the news via
The Verge. 

OpenAI, which was cofounded by
the famously AI-fearful Elon Musk, created the five
neural networks called OpenAI Five with the intention of building
an AI which could learn to cooperate with each other and defeat
human players. The AI trains itself by playing 180 years’ worth
of games against itself every day. 

On Wednesday the bots put this training to the test, playing
against a professional South American team called paiN Gaming at
the esports event The International in Vancouver. The match
lasted 51 minutes and was by all accounts tense.

AI researcher Mike Cook commented on Twitter that while the bots
seemed good at moment-to-moment decision-making, they had trouble
with larger strategic decisions.

The Verge reports that one key mistake made by the bots was
fixating on a non-player neutral character named Roshan, who can
be killed for big rewards. The bots focussing their efforts on
him left their home territory vulnerable to attack from the human
players.

Mike Cook also observed that the bots differed from human players
in that they were more willing to sacrifice their team-mates
where beneficial.

OpenAI’s cofounder and CTO Greg Brockman praised both team’s
performances in a tweet.

There are still two matches to go and the bots could still snatch
the victory. Business Insider has contacted OpenAI to ask how
they feel their bots will fare in their next two games.