Murray Campbell, Member of the Deep Blue Team,
IBM TJ Watson Research Center.
Title: Looking Back at Deep Blue
Abstract: It has been nine years since IBM
Research's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, the
then-reigning world chess champion, in an epic six-game match
that was closely watched by millions. In this talk I will
present the background that led up to the decisive match,
review the match itself, and discuss some of the broader
implications of Deep Blue's victory. Issues I will cover
include Deep Blue's connections to high-performance computing,
what "intelligence" really means, and the roles that games
play in the fields of artificial intelligence, education, and
entertainment.
Ian Lane Davis, CEO of MAD DOC software
Title: Challenges for Game AI.
Abstract: The Video Game industry has grown
rapidly in the last few years, and the demand for more
compelling and convincing characters, opponents, and
comrades in games has made AI one of the hottest areas for
research in games. Additionally, the AI and simulation
techiques found in games have broad application in "serious"
simulations of all sorts, and game developers find a lot of
common areas of interest with academic and industry
researchers. In this talk, I will give an overview of the
AI problems found in both First Person and Strategy games,
and tie this into areas of AI outside of the video game
industry. Video Games turn out to be the ultimate
laboratory for developing the most advanced and successful
AI techniques, and we'll look at the current state of the
art as well as the open problems now and in the near future
Michael Van Lent, Institute for Creative Technologies
Title:
Beyond Entertainment: AI Challenges for Serious Games
Abstract: In the commercial video game industry
artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to rival graphics as
the key technology component that sells games. Most game
reviews comment on the quality of the title's artificial
intelligence for better or worse. Games with innovative AI,
such as The Sims and F.E.A.R., are often top sellers. As a
result game studios are actively exploring new AI techniques
that fit within the many constraints of the commercial
development process. Serious games, which focus on
non-entertainment goals such as education, training, and
communication, pose different AI challenges and have different
constraints. The University of Southern California's
Institute for Creative Technologies has developed ten
different serious games, largely focused on military training,
and has a number of research efforts focused on artificial
intelligence for serious games. While these research efforts
focus on the AI requirements of serious games, they often
suggest innovations that have potential applications in the
entertainment game industry as well.