A Game That Stymies AI

AI appears all-powerful when playing sophisticated games such as Chess and Go against human opponents. Moreover, recent developments in AI have allowed it to summarize bodies of complex text, generate images and even video. These developments come with warnings that AI could replace many jobs, undermine democratic elections or even pose a threat to the existence of humanity. However, AI is largely based on observing and learning patterns; so, what happens when there are no patterns? Professor Steven Brams of New York University and colleagues have analyzed the potential of beating AI when playing a deceptively simple game called Catch-Up, simply by making random moves.