FINAL NUMBERS IN ON THE LIBRATUS VS. HUMANS

FINAL NUMBERS IN ON THE LIBRATUS VS. HUMANS CLASH (Update)
 
Computer program took $1.76 million off human team, besting all four players.
 
The final numbers on the epic “Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence: Upping the Ante” 20-day online poker contest between four human players and AI computer program Libratus are now in, confirming that the computer convincingly bested its human rivals, taking over $1.766 million from them over 120,000 hands.
 
Once the last of the 120,000 hands of Heads-up, No-Limit Texas Hold’em were played on January 30, it was clear that Libratus had exceeded expectations in its defeat of all four poker pros.
 
Libratus creators  Prof. Tuomas Sandholm and Noam Brown at the Carnegie Mellon University computer department said the sizable victory is statistically significant and not simply a matter of luck.
 
“The best AI’s ability to do strategic reasoning with imperfect information has now surpassed that of humans,” Sandholm said.
 
Frank Pfenning, head of the Computer Science Department in CMU’s School of Computer Science said that the result represents a new milestone in artificial intelligence that has implications for any realm in which information is incomplete and opponents sow misinformation.
 
Business negotiation, military strategy, cybersecurity and medical treatment planning could all benefit from automated decision-making using a Libratus-like AI, he said.
 
“The computer can’t win at poker if it can’t bluff,” Pfenning said. “Developing an AI that can do that successfully is a tremendous step forward scientifically and has numerous applications. Imagine that your smartphone will someday be able to negotiate the best price on a new car for you. That’s just the beginning.”
 
The defeated pros will split a $200,000 prize purse based on their respective performances during the event.