AI has come a long way from back in the day where when you played games against computer opponents, usually after a while you can learn their patterns and habits and will eventually have no problems beating them. This is versus humans in which we can sometimes be a bit unpredictable.
However it looks like OpenAI has decided to up the challenge and will be taking on a team of professional DotA 2 players later this year during Valve’s The International tournament. For those who are unfamiliar, The International is the biggest DotA 2 tournament that is held on an annual basis. It brings the best DotA 2 players from around the world to compete for a prize that can go up to several million.
This is not the first time that OpenAI has taken on pros. Previously the research lab (which was founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman) had taken on pros on 1-v-1 matches, but this will be the first time that they will be attempting to take on an entire team. In order to create AI that can work together as a team, researchers had to turn to reinforcement learning where it is basically a trial and error process where bots are given points for performing well.
OpenAI claims that with the accelerated learning rate, the bots have managed to play 180 years worth of game time, so without a doubt it will be interesting to see how this will play out.