Welp, this is it, gamers— it's time to pack up the controllers, because Mario doesn't need us anymore. Thanks to research conducted at the German University of Tuebingen, we now have an AI-controlled Mario who responds to voice commands, and can grab coins and stomp Goombas on his own.

That's right, this Mario AI not only responds to voice commands, but he's like a little Sim Mario, wandering about, fulfilling needs and sating his curiosity. The University of Tuebingen researchers are using him as their entry in the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence's People's Choice Award, an award granted to whomever can develop the most interesting AI and gather the most Thumbs-Ups on YouTube. There are plenty of other interesting entries in this competition, but the smart money's on Mario.

While this is hardly the first time someone's created a Mario AI, as this video shows, plenty of programmers have built Mario Bots to take on Infinite Mario's toughest levels --but the Tuebingen Mario's unique response parameters are what shift him away from being a simple NPC and into full-blown Skynet territory. You should probably start stockpiling supplies now, before this AI gets out and we have Metal Marios knocking down our doors asking if we know where John Connor is.

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