Technologies

Sony AI outraces humans in Gran Turismo car racing game

Using a bank of 1,000 PlayStation 4 consoles as a virtual training ground, Sony taught an artificial intelligence system to outplay the best humans.

Over the last two years, Sony AI trained a computer system to play Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo Sport, a popular and realistic car racing game, and beat some of the world’s best human competitors, Sony said on Wednesday.

The AI, named GT Sophy, defeated top humans only in time trials when there were no other cars on the track during a July competition. But by October, GT Sophy beat the humans even with a scrum of virtual race cars.

GT Sophy is the latest experiment demonstrating that AI can be victorious at games such as chess and Go, which were long thought to be the domain of human intelligence. AI has also beaten people at classic Atari video games and the Starcraft real-time strategy game.

AI today generally refers to a process for programming computers using a technology known as neural networks, which mimic the way human brains work. Sony’s achievement is notable enough to warrant a research paper in the prestigious journal Nature.

A car racing video game, like Gran Turismo, presents open-ended tactical choices as well as simulated rules of physics. GT Sophy picked new ways to approach them, one of the human competitors said.

«The AI drives in a way that we would never have come up with,» said Takuma Miyazono, who won three challenges in the FIA Gran Turismo 2020 World Finals, speaking in a video. He said GT Sophy’s tactics made sense when he saw it drive.

Many AI systems are trained with real-world data through a system called deep learning that gives them the ability to recognize faces and to spot spam. GT Sophy used a different technique called reinforcement learning that starts with an entirely untrained system that has no idea what to do. It raced courses over and over again, following a human-designed reward system that encouraged better results and eventually mastered the game.

One particular difficulty was figuring out the unwritten rules of car racing, such as avoiding collisions and not inappropriately cutting off other drivers.

«We all underestimated how hard it would be to get the sportsmanship side right,» said Sony AI Director Peter Wurman in the video. «To do that without being overly aggressive or overly timid in the face of competitors.»

Sony AI ran simulations on computers connected to a bank of more than 1,000 PlayStation 4 game consoles.

As is common in AI, Sony trained its versions of Sophy GT using fast graphics chips. To run the simulations, it used computers with conventional processors.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Oct. 14

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 14.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword has an odd vertical shape, with an extra Across clue, and only four Down clues. The clues are not terribly difficult, but one or two could be tricky. Read on if you need the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Smokes, informally
Answer: CIGS

5A clue: «Don’t have ___, man!» (Bart Simpson catchphrase)
Answer: ACOW

6A clue: What the vehicle in «lane one» of this crossword is winning?
Answer: RACE

7A clue: Pitt of Hollywood
Answer: BRAD

8A clue: «Yeah, whatever»
Answer: SURE

9A clue: Rd. crossers
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Things to «load» before a marathon
Answer: CARBS

2D clue: Mythical figure who inspired the idiom «fly too close to the sun»
Answer: ICARUS

3D clue: Zoomer around a small track
Answer: GOCART

4D clue: Neighbors of Norwegians
Answer: SWEDES

Technologies

Watch SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 11

Technologies

New California Law Wants Companion Chatbots to Tell Kids to Take Breaks

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new requirements on AI companions into law on Monday.

AI companion chatbots will have to remind users in California that they’re not human under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The law, SB 243, also requires companion chatbot companies to maintain protocols for identifying and addressing cases in which users express suicidal ideation or self-harm. For users under 18, chatbots will have to provide a notification at least every three hours that reminds users to take a break and that the bot is not human.

It’s one of several bills Newsom has signed in recent weeks dealing with social media, artificial intelligence and other consumer technology issues. Another bill signed Monday, AB 56, requires warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those required for tobacco products. Last week, Newsom signed measures requiring internet browsers to make it easy for people to tell websites they don’t want them to sell their data and banning loud advertisements on streaming platforms.

AI companion chatbots have drawn particular scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators in recent months. The Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into several companies in response to complaints by consumer groups and parents that the bots were harming children’s mental health. OpenAI introduced new parental controls and other guardrails in its popular ChatGPT platform after the company was sued by parents who allege ChatGPT contributed to their teen son’s suicide.

«We’ve seen some truly horrific and tragic examples of young people harmed by unregulated tech, and we won’t stand by while companies continue without necessary limits and accountability,» Newsom said in a statement.

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One AI companion developer, Replika, told CNET that it already has protocols to detect self-harm as required by the new law, and that it is working with regulators and others to comply with requirements and protect consumers.

«As one of the pioneers in AI companionship, we recognize our profound responsibility to lead on safety,» Replika’s Minju Song said in an emailed statement. Song said Replika uses content-filtering systems, community guidelines and safety systems that refer users to crisis resources when needed.

A Character.ai spokesperson said the company «welcomes working with regulators and lawmakers as they develop regulations and legislation for this emerging space, and will comply with laws, including SB 243.» OpenAI spokesperson Jamie Radice called the bill a «meaningful move forward» for AI safety. «By setting clear guardrails, California is helping shape a more responsible approach to AI development and deployment across the country,» Radice said in an email.

One bill Newsom has yet to sign, AB 1064, would go further by prohibiting developers from making companion chatbots available to children unless the AI companion is «not foreseeably capable of» encouraging harmful activities or engaging in sexually explicit interactions, among other things.