Google DeepMind will train AI models for the MMORPG game Eve of the Internet

The game, which includes more than two decades of virtual space combat, hacking and trading, seems to be fertile ground for training future AI models. Google DeepMind this week announced plans to use the popular role-playing game Eve Online on Wednesday for training. Bloomberg reports.

Eve Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, developed by CCP Games in Iceland. Players explore and interact with each other in a vast world, forming companies and engaging in a wide range of activities such as mining and space combat. DeepMind also takes a minority stake in it Fenris Creationsthe new name for CCP Games that was also announced on Wednesday.

Although DeepMind is a minority stake, its investment is worth millions of dollars, Fenris Creations CEO Hjalmar Vejar Petursson told Bloomberg.

according to Company blog postThe developer will be independent, with its own board of directors, “giving us a more direct structure for the kind of far-reaching decisions Eve requires.” It was owned by South Korea’s Pearl Abyss, publisher of the recent fantasy book Crimson Desert, but it was It was sold back to management last week.

Eve Online launched 23 years ago and has gained a large following, so it makes sense that an AI lab would be interested in training its models on the game.

Although it’s currently unclear what type of player data Google is analyzing with its AI models, Eve Online is particularly notable for its emergent player-driven narratives and large-scale battles – many of which… last several hours and engaging virtual assets Its value is estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Game stakes in the real world Inform the player’s decision making processThis is probably what makes Google so interested in this online multiplayer game.

“Gaming has always been a big part of my life — I’ve been a gamer since I was a child, and I started my career designing and programming complex AI simulation games like Theme Park,” Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, said in a statement. “They have also been at the heart of many of Google DeepMind’s achievements – such as Atari DQN, AlphaGo, AlphaStar and SIMA – because they represent the perfect training ground for developing and testing AI algorithms.”

The goal is to explore different gaming experiences and “safely advance AI research within a player-driven, astonishingly complex world like Eve Online,” Hassabis said.

According to the blog post, DeepMind will research player behavior on isolated game servers so as not to impact the live game itself. Over time, research will likely expand, and Eve Online will also use research to improve the game in the future.