Google DeepMind AI is looking to convert videogame StarCraft II into a research platform. To meet this end, it is collaborating with Blizzard.

Together, these companies will let the researchers create their own AI agents for playing StarCraft II. The framework will provide the testing ground for new AIs. The collaboration was announced at Blizzcon, Blizzard's annual conference.

Like Us on Facebook

Oriol Vinyals, a DeepMind research scientist, said that the game offers an interesting testing environment as it acts as a "bridge to the messiness of the real-world." He said that the skills required by an agent to move ahead in the game are close to real-world tasks and hence may provide valuable insights. Vinyals used to be one of top-ranked StarCraft players in Spain.

StarCraft II will provide plenty of challenge to Google DeepMind as the current AI system used by the game works differently.

Chris Sigaty, executive producer with Blizzard, said that StarCraft's AI system is hand-crafted and "cheats" a bit. This is because it has much more information than what can be obtained by a human player.

Google DeepMind proved its worth in March this year when it got the best of world champion Go player Lee Se-dol. However, StarCraft II will push the limits for AI as it is more graphically intense. DeepMind and Blizzard plan to release a specialized environment for the game. This environment will convert complex graphics into simple visuals. The environment will be open for any AI researcher to contribute. It is likely to be released by the first quarter of next year.