If watching an AI essentially worth the yearly salary of some surgeons play an 11-year-old indie game doesn’t seem all that impressive, it’s worth taking a step back and seeing how far the tech has come. Just three years ago, teams of technologists competing in the MineRL competition were tasked with a single, seemingly simple goal: create an AI that can successfully mine a diamond in Minecraft. 660 contestants reportedly tried to complete this challenge, and every last one of them failed. OpenAI’s model can now craft diamond tools.
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OpenAI also isn’t the only tech company turning to Minecraft for its AI experiments. Last month, during its Build conference, Microsoft revealed a new AI Minecraft “agent” that operates within the game. Users interacting with Microsoft Minecraft agents can type in commands that are then auto-generated using the game’s software API. In practice, Wired notes, that means users can type in a phrase like “come here” and the Minecraft bot will automatically translate that into Minecraft code, resulting in the bot actually moving forward. Aside from just walking, Microsoft’s Minecraft agent can also complete more complex tasks like retrieving items out in the game world and combining them to create something. And look, it can probably do that better and faster than this writer, who’s several years removed from his last Minecraft session.