ResearchModels

Microsoft researcher builds neural network out of goats inside Age of Empires II

Adrian de Wynter constructs a working small neural network inside Age of Empires II as a critique of attribution methods in AI research.

In detail

  • Uses goats as bits (goat on grass = 0, on bridge = 1) and the scenario editor's scripting to build logic gates
  • Completed mini‑network: two XNOR gates and one AND gate that learns logical AND
  • Appendix argues the game's market mechanics and price cap enable a Turing‑equivalent computational model

Why it matters

The thought experiment shows that running the same computations in different media doesn't change outputs, challenging claims about internal states or emergent qualities based solely on observed behavior — important for debates on model explainability and anthropomorphism.

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