New AIX platform uses Minecraft to develop AI

This is how it begins. First it's playing Minecraft, and before you know it, it's destroying humanity.

Researchers, Katja Hoffman and Matthew Johnson, at the Microfsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, have created a platform for computer scientists to research AI using Minecraft.

The AIX platform is designed to "give researchers practical ways to test their systems and algorithms".

Talking about the transition from theoretical research into AI, to practical tests, Hoffman said, "It’s hard to test some of this in practice, and that’s one of the main motivations for building the platform."

The open world of Minecraft was so appealing because of the vast number of possibilities available to the player, as well as the consequences of their actions.

AIX is only available to a handful of researchers at the moment, but it'll be available this summer via an open-source license to other fellow computer scientists who would like to give it a whirl.