AI learned how to sway humans by watching a cooperative cooking game

Offline reinforcement learning could teach bots to collaborate, or manipulate

an illustration of robotic hand using a human brain as a puppet on strings while inside a person's head

New research shows how AI can learn how to influence human behavior.

Yurii Karvatskyi/Stock / Getty Images Plus

If you’ve ever cooked a complex meal with someone, you know the level of coordination required. Someone dices this, someone sautés that, as you dance around holding knives and hot pans. Meanwhile, you might wordlessly nudge each other, placing ingredients or implements within the other’s reach when you’d like something done.