OpenAI’s bot crushes the world’s top Dota 2 players
Dota is a game of prediction, strategy and collaboration, and it's been long thought that an AI couldn't master it, until now.
Key takeaways
- OpenAI challenged five of the world’s best pro Dota 2 players, and the AI won handily.
- OpenAI Five plays the game for a whopping 180 years every single day thanks to 256 GPUs and 128,000 CPU cores in the Google Compute Cloud.
- Watch the Bot plan ahead The exhibition match was streamed live on Twitch and featured noted Dota 2 players Blitz, Cap, Fogged, Merlini, and MoonMeander.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2018) 'OpenAI’s bot crushes the world’s top Dota 2 players', 311 Institute, 2 September. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/aopenais-ai-bot-crushed-the-worlds-top-dota-2-players/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
A lot of humans think they’re so good at video games that they make the point of describing themselves as “gamers.” Well, the Artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed by OpenAI, which is a company backed by Elon Musk, would like to have a word, humans. After demonstrating its prowess in Dota 2 1v1 games, the newly enhanced “OpenAI Five” has shown that it can thrash even the best human teams. OpenAI challenged five of the world’s best pro Dota 2 players, and the AI won handily.
You might remember OpenAI popping up in the news a number of times recently when they developed an AI that evolved by itself to self-learn, and an AI powered robot hand that's as dextrous as a humans. The OpenAI Dota bot gets better by playing games against itself at high-speed. Using a massively scaled-up version of “Proximal Policy Optimization,” which is a training system designed for OpenAI’s successful 1v1 Dota 2 bot. OpenAI Five plays the game for a whopping 180 years every single day thanks to 256 GPUs and 128,000 CPU cores in the Google Compute Cloud.
Watch the Bot plan ahead
The exhibition match was streamed live on Twitch and featured noted Dota 2 players Blitz, Cap, Fogged, Merlini, and MoonMeander. These are all people who currently or previously play Dota 2 professionally, they’re in the 99.95th percentile of human players. There were a few restrictions to drop features the bots hadn’t yet learned to use, but OpenAI was able to reinstate some previously blocked aspects like wards and Roshan (a powerful neutral creep that can be farmed for XP gains).
In the first match, the AI steamrolled the humans in just 21 minutes. That’s considered quite fast for a game of Dota 2, and the AI was confident. It predicted a 95 percent win probability after seeing the hero teams. In game two, the AI wasn’t as confident, giving itself a 76 percent chance to win. It still pummeled the human team in just 25 minutes.
Watch the bot predict the game
It was a best-out-of-three event, so the AI had already won when round three came along. For this match, the audience was allowed to choose heroes for OpenAI Five. Heroes in Dota 2 often interact in complex ways. Without the ability to build a team it knew how to play, the AI was at a disadvantage. It predicted a 17 percent win chance, and indeed it lost after a healthy 35-minute battle.
A few years ago, many researchers thought it was impossible for AI systems to get so good at complex team-based games like Dota 2, but here we are. The best gamers in the world are machines.
What this means for your organisation
Self-play builds skill at speed.
OpenAI Five plays 180 years of Dota 2 every day, using 256 GPUs and 128,000 CPU cores. It improves by playing itself, with no people teaching it each move. Self-learning AI is rated Prepare, with wide use expected by 2030.
One narrow job can beat experts.
The players it beat sit in the 99.95th percentile of human players. It won in 21 and 25 minutes. Artificial narrow intelligence is AI built to do one job well, and it is rated Act now. Review which of your own single, well-defined tasks a system like this could take on.
Team fit decides the result.
In game three the audience chose the heroes. The bot could not build a team it knew how to play, rated its chance at 17 percent and lost after 35 minutes. Mixed human and AI teams are rated Prepare, with wide use by 2029. Set the working conditions as carefully as you pick the tool.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
- Which of our tasks resemble a game that a system could train on alone?
- Who decides how humans and machines are paired in our teams?
- How would we react if a system predicted its own odds before it began?
The trends and technologies behind this story
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s article and 311 data.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
Dota is a game of prediction, strategy and collaboration, and it's been long thought that an AI couldn't master it, until now.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
Read full bio
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 17-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- OpenAI openai.com
- the AI won handily blog.openai.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 2 September 2018. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2018). OpenAI’s bot crushes the world’s top Dota 2 players. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/aopenais-ai-bot-crushed-the-worlds-top-dota-2-players/
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