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Frustrated Microsoft Researcher Uses Goats in 'Age of Empires II' to Demo the Absurdity of LLMs - Gizmodo

A Microsoft researcher just built a neural network out of goats in Age of Empires II. Here's why it matters for how you think about LLMs.

Reporting by Reuters Technology 1 min brief
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The KeyNews take

Why it matters

Academic research challenging anthropomorphic assumptions about LLMs—demonstrating that statistical pattern-matching in games can mimic 'intelligent' behavior without any understanding. Forces founders and leaders to reconsider claims about AI sentience, reasoning, and human-like cognition.

The key facts

5 to know

  1. Microsoft researcher + York University collaboration

  2. Proof-of-concept: goat-powered neural network in Age of Empires II

  3. Core argument: LLMs don't 'behave like humans' despite natural language training

  4. Critiques anthropomorphizing AI systems based on surface-level outputs

  5. Published June 2026

Go to the source

Reuters Technologynews.google.com

Publisher excerpt: Frustrated Microsoft Researcher Uses Goats in 'Age of Empires II' to Demo the Absurdity of LLMs Gizmodo If AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II’ 404 Media Microsoft researcher builds a working neural network out of goats in Age of Empires II to critique AI science The Decoder Microsoft…
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