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The AI 'AlphaStar' Becomes a Grandmaster in StarCraft II

Andrew Orr ·

DeepMind’s AlphaStar AI has recently become a Grandmaster in the game StarCraft II.

StarCraft requires players to gather resources, build dozens of military units, and use them to try to destroy their opponents. StarCraft is particularly challenging for an AI because players must carry out long-term plans over several minutes of gameplay, tweaking them on the fly in the face of enemy counterattacks. DeepMind says that prior to its own effort, no one had come close to designing a StarCraft AI as good as the best human players.

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Apple Previews Upcoming 'See' Series on YouTube

Andrew Orr ·

Apple has uploading a two-minute featurette of See, a series in which everyone in the world has lost the ability to see.

Jason Momoa stars as Baba Voss, the father of twins born centuries later with the mythic ability to see—who must protect his tribe against a powerful yet desperate queen who believes it’s witchcraft and wants them destroyed. Alfre Woodard also stars as Paris, Baba Voss’ spiritual leader.

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Facebook Fined by UK Information Commissioner Over Cambridge Analytica

Charlotte Henry ·

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The social media giant will pay a total of £500,000 ($630,240) and made no admission of liability, BBC News reported.

As part of the agreement, Facebook has made no admission of liability. The US firm said it “wished it had done more to investigate Cambridge Analytica” earlier. James Dipple-Johnstone, deputy commissioner of the ICO said: “The ICO’s main concern was that UK citizen data was exposed to a serious risk of harm. Protection of personal information and personal privacy is of fundamental importance, not only for the rights of individuals, but also as we now know, for the preservation of a strong democracy.” Harry Kinmonth, a Facebook lawyer, noted that the social network had made changes to restrict the information app developers could access following the scandal.