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AI cyber-fighter: does it feel human, punk?

A software bot designed to act human by mimicking consciousness is poised to go into battle in the Unreal Tournament arena

By Celeste Biever

6 September 2012

Video: Neurobot battles human in test game

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Do I feel human, punk?

(Image: Namco Bandai Partners UK)

Also see: What counts as a conscious thinking machine?

THE warrior dashes through one dark corridor after another, as laser shots crackle past his body. He crouches, jumps, swivels… does he detect the source? He fires at a potential enemy, barely visible in the shadows, then decides to flee.

Though the character inhabits the first-person shoot ’em up video game, Unreal Tournament, there’s no human player in the driving seat. This warrior, called Neurobot, is a character controlled entirely by a biologically…

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