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Musk’s OpenAI will train artificial intelligence through video game ‘Universe’
Elon Musk’s OpenAI will introduce Universe, a virtual training ground aimed at teaching AI to play video games, use apps and even interact with websites. OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company backed by the Tesla founder and billionaire entrepreneur, defines Universe in a blog post as “a software platform for measuring and training an AI’s general intelligence across the world’s supply of games, websites and other applications.”
Put simply, Universe will provide a gym that allows AI agents to go beyond their specialized knowledge of an individual environment to something approaching common sense. “Any task a human can complete with a computer.” Using a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) remote desktop, it allows the AI to control the game or app using a virtual keyboard and mouse, and to see its output by analyzing the pixels displayed on the screen. It’s essentially an interface to the company’s Gym toolkit for developing reinforcement algorithms, a type of machine learning system.
“Our goal is to develop a single AI agent that can flexibly apply its past experience on Universe environments to quickly master unfamiliar, difficult environments, which would be a major step towards general intelligence,” OpenAI says. As an example, it points to success of Google’s DeepMind AlphaGo initiative, which defeated the world champion human Go player earlier this year. While that success was impressive, when faced with a different challenge, the agent would have to go back to square one and learn the new environment through millions of trial and error steps.
OpenAI hopes to expand the Reward Learning (RL) lessons learned in one environment so that an AI agent can build upon past experience to succeed in unfamiliar environments.
We're releasing Universe, a platform for measuring and training AI agents: https://t.co/bx7OjMDaJK
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) December 5, 2016
OpenAI says in its blog post, “Systems with general problem solving ability — something akin to human common sense, allowing an agent to rapidly solve a new hard task — remain out of reach. One apparent challenge is that our agents don’t carry their experience along with them to new tasks. In a standard training regime, we initialize agents from scratch and let them twitch randomly through tens of millions of trials as they learn to repeat actions that happen to lead to rewarding outcomes. If we are to make progress towards generally intelligent agents, we must allow them to experience a wide repertoire of tasks so they can develop world knowledge and problem solving strategies that can be efficiently reused in a new task.”
Prior to Universe, the largest RL resource consisted of 55 Atari games — the Atari Learning Environment, says The Register. But Universe will begin with the largest library of games and resources ever assembled. “Out of the box, Universe comprises thousands of games (e.g. Flash games, slither.io, Starcraft), browser-based tasks (e.g. form filling), and applications (e.g. fold.it),” the OpenAI blog claims. Gaming companies that are cooperating with OpenAI include Flash, Microsoft – OpenAI announced a strategic partnership with the Redmond-based software giant – EA, Valve, Nvidia, Zachtronics, Wolfram, and others.
Universe is about more than gaming. It’s main focus is on training AI agents to complete common online tasks with speed and accuracy. “Today, our agents are mostly learning to interact with common user interface elements like buttons, lists and sliders, but in the future they could complete complex tasks, such as looking up things they don’t know on the internet, managing your email or calendar, completing Khan Academy lessons, or working on Amazon Mechanical Turk and CrowdFlower tasks.”
The OpenAI blog post introducing Universe gives a long and detailed accounting of how Universe was created and what it hopes to accomplish. At the end, it provides a number of ways that companies and individuals can contribute to the process. It’s fascinating reading for anyone interested in what the future of computing is likely to be.
There is also a darker side to artificial intelligence, which Elon Musk refers to as “summoning the Devil.” As The Register suggests, “While making software smarter may appeal to researchers, society as a whole appears to be increasingly unnerved by the prospect. Beyond the speculative fears about malevolent AI and more realistic concerns about the automation of military weaponry, companies and individuals already have trouble dealing with automated forms of interaction.”
One area of concern is that AI agents may one day be able to reactivate themselves after being shut down by human controllers. What was once the stuff of science fiction such as Minority Report and I, Robot could one day become all too real.
OpenAI Universe has been open-sourced on Github for those that may be interested in testing their own video game bot. We’ve included a video below showing OpenAI in action.
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LG Energy Solution pursuing battery deal for Tesla Optimus, other humanoid robots: report
Optimus is expected to be one of Tesla’s most ambitious projects, with Elon Musk estimating that the humanoid robot could be the company’s most important product.
A recent report has suggested that LG Energy Solution is in discussions to supply batteries for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot.
Optimus is expected to be one of Tesla’s most ambitious projects, with Elon Musk estimating that the humanoid robot could be the company’s most important product.
Humanoid robot battery deals
LG Energy Solution shares jumped more than 11% on the 28th after a report from the Korea Economic Daily claimed that the company is pursuing battery supply and joint development agreements with several humanoid robot makers. These reportedly include Tesla, which is developing Optimus, as well as multiple Chinese robotics companies.
China is already home to several leading battery manufacturers, such as CATL and BYD, making the robot makers’ reported interest in LG Energy Solution quite interesting. Market participants interpreted the reported outreach as a signal that performance requirements for humanoid robots may favor battery chemistries developed by companies like LG.
LF Energy Solution vs rivals
According to the report, energy density is believed to be the primary reason humanoid robot developers are evaluating LG Energy Solution’s batteries. Unlike electric vehicles, humanoid robots have significantly less space available for battery packs while requiring substantial power to operate dozens of joint motors and onboard artificial intelligence processors.
LG Energy Solution’s ternary lithium batteries offer higher energy density compared with rivals’ lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are widely used by Chinese EV manufacturers. That advantage could prove critical for humanoid robots, where runtime, weight, and compact packaging are key design constraints.
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Tesla receives approval for FSD Supervised tests in Sweden
Tesla confirmed that it has been granted permission to test FSD Supervised vehicles across Sweden in a press release.
Tesla has received regulatory approval to begin tests of its Full Self-Driving Supervised system on public roads in Sweden, a notable step in the company’s efforts to secure FSD approval for the wider European market.
FSD Supervised testing in Sweden
Tesla confirmed that it has been granted permission to test FSD Supervised vehicles across Sweden following cooperation with national authorities and local municipalities. The approval covers the Swedish Transport Administration’s entire road network, as well as urban and highways in the Municipality of Nacka.
Tesla shared some insights into its recent FSD approvals in a press release. “The approval shows that cooperation between authorities, municipalities and businesses enables technological leaps and Nacka Municipality is the first to become part of the transport system of the future. The fact that the driving of the future is also being tested on Swedish roads is an important step in the development towards autonomy in real everyday traffic,” the company noted.
With approval secured for FSD tests, Tesla can now evaluate the system’s performance in diverse environments, including dense urban areas and high-speed roadways across Sweden, as noted in a report from Allt Om Elbil. Tesla highlighted that the continued development of advanced driver assistance systems is expected to pave the way for improved traffic safety, increased accessibility, and lower emissions, particularly in populated city centers.
Tesla FSD Supervised Europe rollout
FSD Supervised is already available to drivers in several global markets, including Australia, Canada, China, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United States. The system is capable of handling city and highway driving tasks such as steering, acceleration, braking, and lane changes, though it still requires drivers to supervise the vehicle’s operations.
Tesla has stated that FSD Supervised has accumulated extensive driving data from its existing markets. In Europe, however, deployment remains subject to regulatory approval, with Tesla currently awaiting clearance from relevant authorities.
The company reiterated that it expects to start rolling out FSD Supervised to European customers in early 2026, pending approvals. It would then be unsurprising if the company secures approvals for FSD tests in other European territories in the coming months.
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Tesla owners in Sweden get direct attention from pro-union groups
As part of their efforts, the group has started distributing informational leaflets to Tesla vehicles across Stockholm, urging them to pressure the electric vehicle maker to sign a collective agreement.
Amid Tesla Sweden’s ongoing conflict with trade union IF Metall, a group of pro-union supporters has begun directing their attention to actual Tesla owners.
As part of their efforts, the group has started distributing informational leaflets to Tesla vehicles across Stockholm, urging them to pressure the electric vehicle maker to sign a collective agreement.
Leaflets on parked Tesla vehicles
As noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report, participants of the protest place yellow information slips on parked Tesla vehicles across parts of Stockholm. The slips resemble parking notices that contain information related to the unions’ ongoing strike against Tesla Sweden.
Participants involved in the activity said the leaflets were intended to inform consumers rather than target individual owners. The action was carried out in public areas, with leaflets placed on windshields of parked vehicles. When vehicle owners are present, organizers said they provide verbal explanations of the labor dispute.
Tesla has not commented publicly about the matter as of writing.
Recurring demonstrations against Tesla
The leaflet distribution effort follows weekly demonstrations that have taken place outside Tesla’s workshop and office in Upplands Väsby, where protesters typically gather to express support for a collective agreement. Those demonstrations have included informational outreach to customers and workers and, at times, police presence, according to prior reporting.
In a comment, one of the protesters stated that even Tesla owners must be concerned about the unions’ conflict with the electric vehicle maker. “You may think it doesn’t concern you, as you only drive a car. But it does, as we all have a responsibility for the rules in Sweden.
“We are not looking to hunt down individual Tesla owners. Rather, this is a way to spread opinion and increase pressure on Tesla. It should have some impact if several Tesla owners come in and say that you should sign a collective agreement,” one of the protesters stated.
LG Energy Solution pursuing battery deal for Tesla Optimus, other humanoid robots: report
Tesla receives approval for FSD Supervised tests in Sweden
