Quote Originally Posted by player1
So basicaly, laws that protect copyrighted material, inlcuding AI source code, pretty much slow down AI development, since most programmers need to "reinvent the wheel" with every new game.
I don't think that is really the issue. The problem is when you create a new system for playing a game, you need to recreate the opponent. There are people who write AI and carry the basic concepts from game to game. People want more and more complex games, but the AI is not evolving at the same rate. Each time you get a new system to work with, you need to rebuild your tools. It is much the same in other software, which is why we tend to standardize.

Think of it like writing any tool developed to run on a specific app. As long as you are using the base app, you can continue to use the same tool with some modifications. As you add layers of complexity to the app, you can add complexity to the AI. When you start over with a new application (new engine, new programming language, etc.) you are starting over with the AI. So you can use prior general knowledge to rebuild. That gets you started, but it doesn't necessarily keep up, it just gets you back ot the same point...without the new features fully explored. The more complex a game is, the more attention that is needed to develop AI.