According to a report at CNET, researchers at Germany's University of Tubingen have been experimenting with the artificial intelligence (AI) in "Super Mario Advance" so that the titular plumber can understand a wide variety of voice commands (using tech developed at Carnegie Mellon University), process an impressive range of instructions and adapt to the game environment on his own.
If you tell Mario it's possible to kill goombas by jumping on them, he'll comment, "If I jump on goomba, then it certainly dies." You can also order him to kill a goomba, and he'll figure out how to do it on his own. If the Mario AI becomes "hungry," he'll search out coins, and if he becomes curious, he'll begin randomly searching his world. He'll also figure out the best way to make his way around the game world.
Back in 2009, a scripting program effectively completed the game on its own and for several years there was an annual Mario AI competition based on the procedurally generated "Infinite Mario Bros." clone, which was created by the mind behind "Minecraft," Markus "Notch" Persson.
The University of Tubingen's efforts have been submitted for the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence's People's Choice Award later this month. The award will be handed out based on the number of YouTube likes the entry receives and, as of right now, there's a good chance Mario will claim the prize...
...and then evolve into Skynet, obviously. Check out the video below to see the magic for yourself:
