In an effort to spur Artificial Intelligence (AI) development, Microsoft has announced they will be releasing AIX as open source. AIX is an AI development engine that’s based on Minecraft; the company is currently using the engine to teach an AI how to do regular tasks in the game, such as climbing to the top of a hill. They’ve chosen Minecraft for this project because it is an open world that can involve a wide range of semi-realistic scenarios. The goal of this is to develop an AI system that is capable of making more advanced, intelligent decisions and Minecraft is proving to be a valuable tool in this effort.
AIX is expected to be released as open source in the summer of 2016.
