--- description: Microsoft's Maluuba have figured out how to max out the classic Atari game — but it involves artificial intelligence, of course. title: These Tech Heroes Have Officially Conquered Ms. Pac-Man image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Robots to Humans: You Lose. We Just Finally Conquered Ms. Pac-Man  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2017 9:53 PM CUT  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2017 9:53 PM CUT A group of tech superheroes — also known as researchers at recent [Microsoft](http://time.com/4818116/microsoft-surface-laptop-review/ "undefined") acquisition Maluuba — have achieved the seeming impossible, and reached the maximum possible score on classic 1980s Atari game [Ms. Pac-Man.](http://time.com/4721103/april-fools-day-google-maps-ms-pac-man/ "undefined") “No human or AI has ever achieved this score because of the complexity of the game and availability of limited lives,” they state in voiceover on a video shared on YouTube Wednesday. Casual. Maluuba, a startup acquired by the tech giant, specializes in artificial intelligence, so perhaps it only makes sense that they would be capable of applying their technical expertise to this all-important gaming quandary. The key is their “advanced reinforcement learning mechanism,” as they explain in the video, which enables their AI to reach all the way to 999,999 — the maximum possible score, and four times the highest recorded reached by any human player. “We performed well on the game by breaking it into many small problems, with a separate reinforcement learning agent for each problem,” they note. From ghosts to fruit, each “problem” has an “agent” with a “reward function,” meaning they’ve broken down the big decision-making of the overall game play into tiny decision-making tasks. That concept has legs way beyond arcade games, too, from financial models to sales funnels. Confused? Watch them explain how to dominate the game, above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4819067/microsoft-pac-man-maluuba/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4819067/microsoft-pac-man-maluuba/"},"headline":"Robots to Humans: You Lose. We Just Finally Conquered Ms. Pac-Man","datePublished":"2017-06-14T21:53:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:31.390Z","description":"Microsoft's Maluuba have figured out how to max out the classic Atari game — but it involves artificial intelligence, of course.","url":"https://time.com/4819067/microsoft-pac-man-maluuba/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Games","Technology","viral","Microsoft"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4819067/microsoft-pac-man-maluuba/","name":"Robots to Humans: You Lose. We Just Finally Conquered Ms. Pac-Man"}}]}] ```