Since the beginnings of artificial intelligence, researchers have long sought to test the intelligence of machine systems by having them play games against humans. It is often thought that one of the hallmarks of human intelligence is the ability to think creatively, consider various possibilities, and keep a long-term goal in mind while making short-term decisions. If computers can play difficult games just as well as humans then surely they can handle even more complicated tasks. From early checkers-playing bots developed in the 1950s to today’s deep learning-powered bots that can beat even the best players in the world at games like chess, Go and DOTA, the idea of machines that can find solutions to puzzles is as old as AI itself, if not older. Read More