This Program Taught Itself How to Play “Super Mario World”

As Arnold Schwarzenegger said in Terminater 2: Judgement Day, “My CPU is a neural net processor; a learning computer.” That may be true for futuristic killing machines, but it’s also true for computers today. One YouTuber created his own learning program, and what did he teach it? How to play video games of course! Watch this program learn how to play the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World.

YouTuber Seth Bling created this program he calls MarI/O. Starting with no knowledge of the game itself, MarI/O is able to “learn” how to maneuver Mario through a level. The process is closely tied to our own evolution, with neurons building pathways to “remember” aspects of Mario’s controls and the level itself. It’s super impressive, and much less dangerous than a Terminator!