Inside Google’s and Meta’s Arms Race to Build the Most Deceptive AI
If you’ve never played the game Diplomacy before, I don’t recommend starting because it will consume your life. The game is typically a seven player affair that involves a lot of negotiation, persuasion, and alliances—not to mention a healthy dose of deception—in order to control and gain territory on a map of Europe in the run-up to WWI.
But, there are countless other versions of the game out there, some of which feature dozens of players playing on a map the size of the world. Each player is vying for power with the ultimate goal of conquering enough territory to win outright, or simply surviving long enough until you can negotiate a draw. These matches can get very messy, very quickly—which makes it the perfect game for the sick and depraved.
And, as it turns out, it’s also a great game to train AI how to negotiate, cooperate, and even deceive. The most recent effort comes from researchers at Google’s AI research lab DeepMind who published a study on Dec. 6 in the journal Nature Communications about a new approach for teaching bots to play Diplomacy. The authors say that this method allows for better communications between AI “players” while also encouraging cooperation and honesty.