AlphaCode.

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1. Google’s UK-based artificial intelligence unit DeepMind has invented a tool that can write computer code at a competitive level to solve open-ended problems that require critical thinking, logic and understanding of language. The system, known as AlphaCode, is a sign of the evolution of AI and would allow the automation of computer programming, a powerful and highly prized skill underpinning much of modern science and industry. DeepMind tested AlphaCode’s performance in coding competitions hosted by Codeforces, a platform that pits the skills of tens of thousands of human software programmers around the world against one another. It found that it performed with the expertise of an average human programmer. “AlphaCode placed at about the level of the median competitor, marking the first time an AI code generation system has reached a competitive level of performance in programming competitions,” the DeepMind team behind the tool wrote. The Deep Mind blog post on this is here. (Source: ft.com, deepmind.com)

2. Technology first developed for video games will one day shape much of Microsoft’s software and lie at the heart of the next big computing platform, according to Satya Nadella, the US software company’s chief executive. Speaking in his first interview since Microsoft’s agreement last month to pay $75 billion for games maker Activision Blizzard, Nadella sought to paint the world’s biggest ever tech deal as central to the future of online interaction as people spend more time in what has become known as the metaverse. Says Mr. Nadella: “Being great at game building gives us permission to build the next internet.” A full transcript of the interview is here. (Source: ft.com)