"We call it deep reinforcement learning," Hassabis said.
Shanahan's idea is to build up a symbolic style database not through hand-coding it, but by hooking it in with another approach, called deep reinforcement learning.
And the company has already turned its attention to other, more practical, problems which can be tackled with the same deep reinforcement learning approach that led to AlphaGo.
The team also used the deep reinforcement approach to test different versions of the software in order to decide which approach was bearing fruit and which should be dropped.
Both DeepMind and its successors involve "deep reinforcement learning" – giving computers the tools to draw conclusions based on large amounts of data, in the way that humans make assumptions based on experience.
The technology, which began with attempts to mimic the way the human brain interprets and processes information, is at the heart of DeepMind's AI research, and lends itself well to what Hassabis, speaking on the eve of his trip to Seoul to oversee the competition, calls "deep reinforcement learning".
Is your tech based on reinforcement learning or deep reinforcement learning?
The system, which uses "deep reinforcement learning," can use motion capture date to learn basic movements.
The pit was retained by a 1-m-thick and 36-m-deep reinforcement concrete diaphragm wall.
In addition to Lobe, Microsoft also recently bought Bonsai.ai, a deep reinforcement learning platform, and Semantic Machines, a conversational AI platform.
