© Stiftung Jugend forscht

Computer games against the computer often involve artificial intelligence (AI) - adaptive software that gets smarter and smarter over time. Boian Balouchev (16) - winner of a stay at a Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Italy - worked on a special AI program. It masters not just one computer game, but several. As a player, you simply tell the software the rules - the software then has to teach itself sensible game strategies. The result: the program is able to master board games such as 'Tic-Tac-Toe' or 'Four Wins' without any prior knowledge. According to Balouchev, the program could also be transferred to other areas of application, such as the management of business processes.