"Mario Lives!" Project Aims to Create a Self-Aware Mario

roseofbattle

News Room Contributor
Apr 18, 2011
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"Mario Lives!" Project Aims to Create a Self-Aware Mario

<youtube=AplG6KnOr2Q>​
A group of researchers manage to program Mario to take in information using natural speech voice commands for a project in artificial intelligence.

The iconic video game character Mario recognizes his hunger and curiosity, and he learns how to take in commands by natural speech in a project called "Mario Lives!" as an example of improving artificial intelligence.

The Cognitive Modeling [http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche-fakultaet/fachbereiche/informatik/lehrstuehle/cognitive-modeling/home/home/home.html] group of Germany's University of Tübingen created "Mario Lives!" as an entry for an Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) competition.

A person can give commands to Mario, such as "Kill enemy," and give him information, such as "Listen, Goomba dies when you jump on Goomba." Mario will note that he understands, and if a person asks Mario, "What do you know about Goomba?", Mario will reply, "If I jump on Goomba, then it certainly dies."

If Mario kills a Goomba without being told what happens, Mario would instead reply, "If I jump on Goomba, then it maybe dies." Mario will collect information about the surroundings as he explores, noting when he destroys a block and nothing happens, when he jumps on an enemy and it dies, and more.

Mario also has drives for curiosity and hunger. When hungry, Mario will collect coins, and when curious, Mario will explore the world. Mario will even repeat back commands, stating, "Somehow I feel less happy" after he's commanded to be less happy.

But that's not all. Fabian Schrodt, a researcher involved with "Mario Lives!", said the Cognitive Modeling team is also working on a project where an AI-controlled Mario and Luigi can speak to each other and share information they find independently. This results in them teaching each other.

The AAAI video competition [http://www.aaaivideos.org/] is an annual competition that aims to show the world "how much fun AI is by documenting exciting artificial intelligence advances in research, education, and application." It's in its ninth year, and the video with the most likes by January 27 will win the People's Choice Award.

Source: The Verge [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AplG6KnOr2Q]


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ryukage_sama

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Mar 12, 2009
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Can someone play the creepy Pinocchio music from the Age of Ultron trailer over this.

It seems we have chosen the face of our destroyer. At least it wasn't Bubsy.
 

Dandres

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Apr 7, 2013
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Great so now when I play a game drunk and mess up badly the games star will tell it is sad because I keep killing it.
 

Parasondox

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Jun 15, 2013
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GOD DAMN!! I knew Mario would kill us all. I knew it and I said it too but everyone said I was crazy. Jokes on them!!
 

Kajin

This Title Will Be Gone Soon
Apr 13, 2008
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Come back to me when they've built an in-game shopping center and taught him how to use the coins to buy a house and groceries to cook. Bonus points if they teach him how to love and send him on a quest to rescue his beloved Peach.
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
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I live close to CMU, so I know kind of what he's on about. This is interesting, if a little bit freaky.
 

Adept Mechanicus

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Oct 14, 2012
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ryukage_sama said:
Can someone play the creepy Pinocchio music from the Age of Ultron trailer over this.

It seems we have chosen the face of our destroyer. At least it wasn't Bubsy.
Best comment of the day. In all seriousness, it is probably a really bad idea to give an AI commands that let it know what "kill" means and how to do it, even in the context of a video game.
 

Armadox

Mandatory Madness!
Aug 31, 2010
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Humm, proof of concept is not the same as proof of content. I kind of want to see this from all angles, because being able to tell Mario to be sad, and him parroting it back isn't the same as free thinking self aware AI. You know what? I honestly think this is the wrong game to start with for displaying this technology. Want to know what is? Little Computer People.

Start with a base, random personality upon loading the game ( locked into place at first with a field of modification based on their surrounding) and then spend your time sussing out what that one is and how to have THEM better their lives based on decisions garnered after talking to you. You get a clinically sad guy, or a jerk have fun having it resent you of their own free will. Have them learn that they have to take care of their own needs, and see how much they'll want to talk to you as you aid or screw with them.

I want to come home from work, and spend my night telling some tiny person in my game they can't go to the bathroom til they either pee themselves or finally break down and defy me. I want to tell them to feel happy, and have them tell me to bugger off.

Then I want them to lose to me at poker, and spend the next three weeks eating digital ramen and cursing my name.