Noam Brown, a research scientist at Facebook AI Research, and Tuomas Sandholm, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon, describe their results in a new paper titled “ Superhuman AI for multiplayer poker,” published today in the journal Science. At the crescendo of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, a pair of computer scientists have announced that they’ve created an artificial intelligence poker player that is stronger than a full table of top human professionals at the most popular form of the game - no-limit Texas Hold ’em. And unbeknownst to me at the time, a pair of Intel processors on the other side of the country had recently undergone a similar ordeal. The last surviving one of us would become an instant millionaire. Every so often, one of us would quietly stand up and leave, never to return.
In a secure location somewhere on the premises sat more than $8 million in cash that we, and others like us in nearby rooms, had collectively paid for the privilege.
On a scorching summer day two weeks ago, I was sitting in a cavernous room in the Mojave Desert along with some 2,000 other people, none of whom I’d ever met before.
