An artificial intelligence program defeats world champions in the card game bridge, which requires many skills unique to humans.
The French startup NukkAI announced the victory of their artificial intelligence (AI) program on March 25, at the end of a two-day tournament. The NukkAI challenge required world champions to play 800 continuous hands divided into 80 rounds, with each round consisting of 10 hands.
NooK understands its opponents well and can explain decisions made during gameplay. (Photo: Stockphoto)
Each champion, along with their partner, had to compete against a team of two other opponents. These opponents were the best champion robots in history. They have defeated many rival robots but cannot play as well as humans. The AI software named NooK from NukkAI also competed similarly to human players, using the same deck of cards and facing the same opponents. NooK won 67 out of 80 rounds (83%).
Jean-Baptiste Fantun, co-founder of NukkAI, stated that the company developed the software over five years. AI researcher Véronique Ventos, the other co-founder of the company, referred to NooK as a new generation of AI because it explains each decision made during gameplay. “In bridge, you cannot play without explaining. The game relies on communication between participants,” Ventos said.
This victory marks a new milestone in AI development, as bridge players must handle incomplete information and react to the behaviors of other players, a situation very similar to human decision-making. Instead of learning to play through billions of rounds, NooK initially learned the rules of the game and then improved its play through practice.
Nevena Senior, a British player who has won multiple world championships in bridge, noted that NooK understands its opponents better than humans and can capitalize on their mistakes more effectively. “This is something humans can only do after gaining enough experience, and I was very surprised to see a robot mimic skills typically found in humans,” Senior shared.
