Facebook is Developing an AI Assistant For Minecraft
This makes it easier for an AI to perform their task. The Facebook team believes that even though their AI system isn't able to complete some tasks, it can still be useful. They claim that we can make progress towards an assistant that is effective without needing to fulfill every request.
It is still difficult. One of the biggest hurdles is understanding ordinary language. The Facebook team imagines this request:
PLAYER: construct a 15-block tall tower and then put a gigantic smiley on top ASSISTANT: OK
This relatively simple request requires a significant amount of knowledge. The person who assists must comprehend the concept of a "tower" and how to build one, understand that "15 blocks high" is a measurement of the height of the tower and know what "15" is. It should also be able to comprehend the meaning of "smiley" and how to build it and know what it means to place it "on the top." And it's easy to imagine how these demands could become more complicated.
However, the possibilities for an AI to learn are a lot. If Facebook can get enough human help it could ask humans to assist it in learning.
Facebook has given itself the goal of creating the AI that can self-improve. One of the most common criticisms of AI systems is that they do not develop new tasks beyond those that they have been trained for and for which data is collected and processed. But the researchers think the Minecraft environment is the perfect environment to develop this kind of learning.
This is an interesting project that sketches out an ambitious goal for Facebook. It's still very early in the process. The team describes this work as an "call to arms."
However, an early version of the assistant is available for ordinary users to begin experimenting with. It is available for download here.