Facebook, MIT working on AI assistant for Minecraft

Minecraft was chosen because it is one of the most popular games with simple predictable rules.

Minecraft is getting a new AI assistant. (Pixabay)

Facebook and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working together on an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant for the popular online video game 'Minecraft'.

The major aim is to develop an AI system that can multi-task and help people with everyday tasks outside a gaming environment, MIT Technology Review reported on Thursday.

The researchers said they chose 'Minecraft' because it is one of the most popular games in the world with more than 90 million people playing it every month and it has "infinite variety" but simple predictable rules.

"The opportunities for an AI to learn are huge, Facebook is setting itself the task of designing the AI to self-improve, the researchers think the 'Minecraft' environment is a perfect one to develop this kind of learning," the report adeed.

According to researchers, there is a huge opportunity for the AI assistant to learn inside 'Minecraft' and it could help human players to acquire more knowledge.