# data[].attributes.headline
Research: Learning to play Minecraft with Video PreTraining

# data[].attributes.subject
Research: Learning to play Minecraft with Video PreTraining

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learning to play Minecraft with Video PreTraining

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We trained a neural network to play Minecraft by Video PreTraining (VPT) on a massive unlabeled video dataset of human Minecraft play, while using only a small amount of labeled contractor data. With fine-tuning, our model can learn to craft diamond tools, a task that usually takes proficient humans over 20 minutes (24,000 actions). Our model uses the native human interface of keypresses and mouse movements, making it quite general, and represents a step towards general computer-using agents.

# data[].attributes.headline
They Plugged GPT-4 Into Minecraft—and Unearthed New Potential for AI

# data[].attributes.subject
They Plugged GPT-4 Into Minecraft—and Unearthed New Potential for AI

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The technology that underpins ChatGPT has the potential to do much more than just talk. Linxi "Jim" Fan, an AI researcher at the chipmaker Nvidia, worked with some colleagues to devise a way to set the powerful language model GPT-4-the "brains" behind ChatGPT and a growing number of other apps and services-loose inside the blocky video game Minecraft.

The Nvidia team, which included Anima Anandkumar, the company's director of machine learning and a professor at Caltech, created a Minecraft bot called Voyager that uses GPT-4 to solve problems inside the game. The language model generates objectives that help the agent explore the game, and code that improves the bot's skill at the game over time.

Voyager doesn't play the game like a person, but it can read the state of the game directly, via an API. It might see a fishing rod in its inventory and a river nearby, for instance, and use GPT-4 to suggest the goal of doing some fishing to gain experience. It will then use this goal to have GPT-4 generate the code needed to have the character achieve it.

The most novel part of the project is the code that GPT-4 generates to add behaviors to Voyager. If the code initially suggested doesn't run perfectly, Voyager will try to refine it using error messages, feedback from the game, and a description of the code generated by GPT-4.

Over time, Voyager builds a library of code in order to learn to make increasingly complex things and explore more of the game. A chart created by the researchers shows how capable it is compared to other Minecraft agents. Voyager obtains more than three times as many items; explores more than twice as far; and builds tools 15 times more quickly than other AI agents. Fan says the approach may be improved in the future with the addition of a way for the system to incorporate visual information from the game.

While chatbots like ChatGPT have wowed the world with their eloquence and apparent knowledge- even if they often make things up -Voyager shows the huge potential for language models to perform helpful actions on computers. Using language models in this way could perhaps automate many routine office tasks, potentially one of the technology's biggest economic impacts.

The process that Voyager uses with GPT-4 to figure out how to do things in Minecraft might be adapted for a software assistant that works out how to automate tasks via the operating system on a PC or phone. OpenAI, the startup that created ChatGPT, has added "plugins" to the bot that allow it to interact with online services such as grocery delivery app Instacart. Microsoft, which owns Minecraft, is also training AI programs to play it, and the company recently announced Windows 11 Copilot, an operating system feature that will use machine learning and APIs to automate certain tasks. It may be a good idea to experiment with this kind of technology inside a game like Minecraft, where flawed code can do relatively little harm.

Video games have long been a test bed for AI algorithms, of course. AlphaGo, the machine learning program that mastered the extremely subtle board game Go back in 2016, cut its teeth by playing simple Atari video games. AlphaGo used a technique called reinforcement learning, which trains an algorithm to play a game by giving it positive and negative feedback, for example from the score inside a game.

It is more difficult for this method to guide an agent in an open-ended game such as Minecraft, where there is no score or set of objectives and where a player's actions may not pay off until much later. Whether or not you believe we should be preparing to contain the existential threat from AI right now, Minecraft seems like an excellent playground for the technology.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
They Plugged GPT-4 Into Minecraft-and Unearthed New Potential for AI

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The technology that underpins ChatGPT has the potential to do much more than just talk. Linxi "Jim" Fan, an AI researcher at the chipmaker Nvidia, worked with some colleagues to devise a way to set the powerful language model GPT-4-the "brains" behind ChatGPT and a growing number of other apps and services-loose inside the blocky video game Minecraft.

# data[].attributes.headline
What's New With WIRED - Short Podcast about AI and Minecraft

# data[].attributes.subject
What's New With WIRED - Short Podcast about AI and Minecraft

# data[].attributes.body
What role does Generative AI play in supporting truth and avoiding misinformation and disinformation ?

How can AI help us find the truth?

How might computers and AI programs help us know if something is true or not?

Can you think of a way AI could help check if a fact is true or not?

How can AI Make Mistakes?

Do you think AI can ever get things wrong? Why or why not?

What could happen if AI gives us the wrong information?

Should we always trust AI?

Is it a good idea to believe everything AI tells us? Why or why not?

When might it be better to double check information even when AI says it's true?

How can we be responsible users of AI?

What can we do to make sure we're using AI in a smart way?

How can we make sure we're not spreading false information ourselves?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore lessons and download a special Minecraft world to explore biodiversity and conservation with your students.

# data[].attributes.body
Explore Frozen Planet II for Minecraft, a series of immersive worlds and learning content created in partnership with BBC Earth. This video provides a ten-minute overview of the content and educational resources to extend learning beyond the game -- in the classroom or at home.

Learn more and download content at: aka.ms/frozenplanet2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Welcome to Frozen Planet II for Minecraft

# data[].attributes.headline
18-Year-Old Recreated the ‘Entire Universe’ in Minecraft

# data[].attributes.subject
18-Year-Old Recreated the ‘Entire Universe’ in Minecraft

# data[].attributes.body
18-year-old Christopher Slayton analyzed structures in outer space and recreated the cosmos from the virtual cubes that make up the video game world of Minecraft.

You can watch his project video here; https://youtu.be/eAkb2mpybnM

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Though the expansiveness of the universe may be daunting to some, 18-year-old Christopher Slayton decided to embrace the vastness rather than be intimidated by it. For nearly two months, he analyzed structures in outer space and recreated the cosmos from the virtual cubes that make up the video game world of Minecraft.

Slayton, who graduated high school in the spring, researched black holes, assessed the various hues of Saturn's rings and looked at images of Earth to build the universe-block by block-on his computer, reports April Rubin for the New York Times.

The teenager documented the project on his YouTube channel, where he goes by the username Chris DaCow, and shared the building process on a viral Reddit thread.

After all the effort to re-create the universe, "I realized even more how beautiful it is," Slayton tells the Times.

Throughout the project, he complemented his building with hands-on, viral-video-friendly experiences. For example, before recreating Earth, the first object he made, Slayton decided to skydive-"to truly appreciate the beauty of our planet," he says in the YouTube video. Ultimately, he ended up using a globe for reference, measuring the locations of each continent to make his block-Earth to scale. From there, he went on to build each planet in our solar system.

For the sun, Slayton used the "brightest blocks in Minecraft" and even included solar flares to make the star "feel alive with fire," he says in the video. As he moved on to creating a cluster of galaxies, he hiked to the top of a mountain with a friend and set up a telescope in an attempt to observe the real-world collections of stars, gas, dust and planets that he sought to replicate.

"We were surrounded by the cosmos, millions of stars right before our eyes," Slayton says in the video.

Within his model universe, Slayton also recreated a black hole, inspired by the 2014 movie Interstellar, and crafted the plumes of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula's Pillars of Creation. Finally, he made a spherical, web-like structure that represented the whole universe. Slayton used various "mods," or modifications that edit the structure or existing code of a video game, throughout the project to accelerate the building process.

Slayton's creation follows a long line of Minecraft players setting out to rebuild worldly and otherworldly structures, including Mount Olympus from Greek mythology and Middle-Earth from The Lord of the Rings, as 's Simon Hill reported last year.

The first edition of Minecraft was released in 2009, followed by a fuller version in 2011. Since then, it has become one of the most popular video games in the world, with various YouTube channels, forums, competitions and online communities dedicated to it. Slayton has been playing Minecraft for most of the game's existence; he says in the video that he's played for nine years.

Beyond just being a pastime, the game has practical and educational applications, as B. Reeja Jayan, a mechanical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, tells the Times. She uses Minecraft to teach a materials science course.

"In my opinion, learning must be fun," she tells the publication. "And one of the advantages of using a game like Minecraft is it's so flexible. It's so easy for a small child to learn to play the game, but at the same time it's been adapted for teaching advanced scientific concepts."

Slayton, who lives in San Diego with his family, hopes to explore other cosmic themes in future Minecraft projects and videos, including the fourth dimension and the multiverse, he tells the Times.

Since the video of the universe recreation project was posted on YouTube earlier this month, it has amassed more than one million views, and Slayton now has over 100,000 subscribers to his channel-and counting. Though he's considering going to college in the future, for now, Slayton hopes to enhance his YouTube channel and reach more users, he tells the Times.

"I want to tell a real entertaining story, unlike how anyone else has done it in the Minecraft community or just the gaming community," Slayton tells the publication. "I kind of want to up the standards a bit."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This 18-Year-Old Recreated the 'Entire Universe' in Minecraft

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Though the expansiveness of the universe may be daunting to some, 18-year-old Christopher Slayton decided to embrace the vastness rather than be intimidated by it. For nearly two months, he analyzed structures in outer space and recreated the cosmos from the virtual cubes that make up the video game world of Minecraft.

# data[].attributes.headline
These scripts use AI to turn Minecraft worlds into adorable picturesque scenes

# data[].attributes.subject
These scripts use AI to turn Minecraft worlds into adorable picturesque scenes

# data[].attributes.body
AI image generators using a combination of Minecraft screenshots and text prompts to create highly detailed images each time the user makes changes to their design within the Minecraft game world

You can watch a short video here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=ThnAnva2RPY&feature=emb_logo

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It was only a matter of time before someone combined Stable Diffusion AI image generator and Minecraft command-line. This is probably one of the best uses of AI image generators I've seen so far, essentially using a combination of Minecraft screenshots and text prompts to create highly detailed images each time the user makes changes to their design within the Minecraft game world.

Sean Simon, more commonly known as ThoseSixFaces (or Lozmosis on Reddit (opens in new tab)), posted the above video yesterday showing off a sped-up version of their scripts running live as they messed around in-game.

It works by taking screenshots from a specific angle as the game is played, resizing or cropping them to 512x512 pixels and saving them to a folder. Each frame is generated on "a fixed interval, or whenever the player places/removes a block." Using a version of InvokeAI (opens in new tab) that Sean modified, the model then goes about "targeting the latest image in the folder and outputting the Stable Diffusion image." Another script then displays the output image using tkinter (opens in new tab).

Stable Diffusion (opens in new tab) is the main thing translating each frame into gorgeous AI generated images, however, which Sean explains "denoises on a random value between 0.47-0.5." So although Sean is able to use prompts to push the AI in the preferred direction using image2image (opens in new tab), there's still a little leeway in how random the generated results can be.

As it stands right now, the process involves running several scripts, though Sean is "keen to compress this all into a single script."

It's a fascinating project, and one my art teachers from college would be very excited to see working; they seemed to have an obsession with translating work into different mediums, then translating it back. On that note, one Reddit commenter jokingly suggests a reverse process to Sean, in which the AI would "turn arts into minecrafts."

Sean responds with, "I've started cooking something up," so it may not be too long before we see Minecraft worlds being generated using AI image prompts. Or indeed Minecraft worlds being translated into images, then back into Minecraft worlds.

Whew, what a world we live in.

Sadly, Sean's scripts are not yet available to download from Github, but do keep an eye on their Twitter (opens in new tab) for updates.

Now, we've seen Stable Diffusion being used in VR (opens in new tab), and the CEO of Discord image bot Midjourney speculates that future consoles will have a " giant AI chip and all the games will be dreams (opens in new tab)." This Minecraft project is yet another addition to the exciting, AI-focussed narrative springing up in the gaming sphere right now.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
These scripts use AI to turn Minecraft worlds into adorable picturesque scenes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It was only a matter of time before someone combined Stable Diffusion AI image generator and Minecraft command-line. This is probably one of the best uses of AI image generators I've seen so far, essentially using a combination of Minecraft screenshots and text prompts to create highly detailed images each time the user makes changes to their design within the Minecraft game world.

# data[].attributes.headline
170 Daily Actions to Transform Our World

# data[].attributes.subject
170 Daily Actions to Transform Our World

# data[].attributes.headline
20 Kids Who are Stepping Up and Making a Difference

# data[].attributes.subject
20 Kids Who are Stepping Up and Making a Difference

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
20 Kids Who Are Stepping Up & Making a Difference

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The entire world is in the middle of a health crisis, with the US now bearing the brunt of some of the worst caseloads to date. The news is constant and almost always grim ( or strange). But like Mister Rogers is quoted as saying, the key to maintaining hope is to find the helpers.

# data[].attributes.headline
15 Incredible Kids Who are Changing the World

# data[].attributes.subject
15 Incredible Kids Who are Changing the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
15 Incredible Kids Who Are Changing the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Technically, these young wonders don't have superpowers, but they are super awesome.

# data[].attributes.headline
Shaping a Fairer World Podcast: Mental Health During COVID 19

# data[].attributes.subject
Shaping a Fairer World Podcast: Mental Health During COVID 19

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic | #ShapingAFairerWorld Podcast with Chetna Sabharwal

# data[].attributes.headline
The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World

# data[].attributes.subject
The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Lazy Person's Guide to Saving the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
End extreme poverty. Fight inequality and injustice. Fix climate change. Whoa. The Sustainable Development Goals are important, world-changing objectives that will require cooperation among governments, international organizations and world leaders. It seems impossible that the average person can make an impact. Should you just give up? No! Change starts with you.

# data[].attributes.body
If you are in need of engaging tutorials or if you have a specific proble you can't solve in Minecraft this is your go to channel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Avomance is a leading Minecraft Tutorial, Lets Play and Lets Build creator with an easy to follow style and really interactive channel.
I especially enjoy creating Minecraft tutorials for people with specific requirements A BIT ABOUT ME I am actually a London boy, born and bred and although I no…

# data[].attributes.headline
The Minecraft generation (NY Times Article)

# data[].attributes.subject
The Minecraft generation (NY Times Article)

# data[].attributes.body
Minecraft is more like a destination, a technical tool, a cultural scene, or all three put together. It’s a world of trial and error and constant discovery, stuffed with byzantine secrets, obscure text commands and hidden recipes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Minecraft Generation (Published 2016)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How a clunky Swedish computer game is teaching millions of children to master the digital world.

# data[].attributes.body
These little trivia facts may be an interesting way to gather attention of students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
15 Fun Facts About Minecraft

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether you’re an avid player or have one in your life, you’ve probably had at least a brief encounter with Minecraft by now. Here are a few things you might not know about the gaming juggernaut.

# data[].attributes.body
Introduce yourselves, ask a question, share an interesting find.

This is your corner!

# data[].attributes.headline
Minecraft: Education Edition: Teacher Academy

# data[].attributes.subject
Minecraft: Education Edition: Teacher Academy

# data[].attributes.body
Check this learning path to become a minecrfat certified teacher!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Educator Center Overview - Microsoft Learn Educator Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Microsoft Learn for Educators takes the best of Microsoft Learn online learning paths and helps you to bring instructor-led training materials from Microsoft into your courses. This program provides members with access to Microsoft ready-to-teach curriculum and teaching materials aligned to industry-recognized Microsoft Certifications.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The ultimate crafting guide for Minecraft! Find ALL the latest recipes to craft anything in Minecraft.

# data[].attributes.body
The project is called The Uncensored Library and it is a Minecraft server and map released by Reporters without Borders as an attempt to circumvent censorship in countries without freedom of the press. The library contains banned reporting from Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

You can watch their short video here; https://uncensoredlibrary.com/en/v/about-the-library

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Uncensored Library – Reporters without borders

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I support The Uncensored Library and the fight for press freedom. #TruthFindsAWay

# data[].attributes.body
History Blocks is a project led through Minecraft Education Edition ehre sites that were destroyed by the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, and by the Taliban in Afghanistan are re-created by students.

Students aged from 9 to 13 built up their models from historical images of the Temple of Bel, the Monastery of St. Elian and the entrance to the ancient city of Aleppo in Syria, as well as the Mausoleum of Imam Awn al-Din and the Al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq, and Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas.

# data[].attributes.body
You can enjoy the original tunes of mimecraft during your sessions with the girls or while you are playing on your own! The tunes are all melodic and very soothing, works perfectly for the creative mode.

# data[].attributes.body
Here is a more upbeat playlist, including original soundtracks from many of the AAA titles.

Some of my personal favorites;

Legends Never Die - League of Legends
Blinding Lights - The Weekend
More - K/DA