Update: I posted this almost exactly a year ago and a year later we are seeing the first neural networking bots! It's pretty cool to see an idea actually become a reality!
Introduction
In my last article I briefly covered what my speculations were on the future of botting. Many of you may ask yourselves what I mean by this. To put it simply I see botting moving into a new generation. One where bots no longer rely on scripts to dictate their decisions but rather are able to make their own decisions on the spot in real time. What I am referring to is A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
Different Input Techniques
In 2008 Robots In Disguise was the first to attempt to do this. They no longer relied on complicated scripts that used reflection and BCEL to read or write to the client, but straight color recognition algorithms that were then used as input.
The method implied today by most modern bot clients is known as reflection. NeXus does this very well. However the disadvantage to this is that the bot-client loads the Runescape.jar into it's own virtual machine. Meaning that you are literally downloading the entire RS client rather than just playing it via web-browser. This isn't necessarily illegal, but if you were suspected of botting this is often one of the many things Jagex looks for.
About A.I
Artificial intelligence is a programming technique that has baffled computer scientists for years. It is true that "true A.I" has not yet been achieved, that is Artificial Intelligence that is sanctioned and understands its own existence (imagine one of those playing on an account 24/7). However computer scientists have made ground breaking discoveries to mimic intelligence. In this article it is this type of A.I that I am referring to.
The ability to learn is one of the many things that make up intelligence. There have been brilliant breakthroughs in copying this attribute into a computer program. This technique is known as neural netting. A Neural Network in computer science is designed to replicate how the human brain processes information. It bounces packets of data from node to node. There are three levels or layers to how they work. First you have an input in this case colour and shape recognition. Your input is then sent to a hidden layer hidden layer, this is where decision making is made (it could be random or systematic depending on which ever is more efficient). The last layer is output (or the click). The computer program then figures out how successful it was and will adapt the program based on the output. So far no bot has implemented neural networks and this is definitely something I want to see.
A.I Botting v.s. Script Botting
Artificial intelligence is superior to scripting because it uses choice to solve problems rather then simple predefined commands. A script looks at basic inputs like location, object ids, and color. It then takes these inputs and executes a set of predefined commands based on that specific situation. Artificial intelligence does not work like this. It to requires input like scripts, but instead of executing them in fashion A, B, or C it makes a choice within a predefined set of parameters. Basically an A.I program will look at what it needs to accomplish and then attempt to accomplish it within the bounds of the parameters set. This results in billions of different combinations of events.
Take for example a simple tree cutting script in the first figure. As soon as it attempts logs in it receives input to do one of two things. It can either check location, or fail to login in which case the script quits. If it does log in it will either check to see if the proper tree is where it expects it or move to the proper coordinates. I could go on in on but I think its the point is made how complexed scripts can get, some with as many as 30,000 possible different scenarios. However this pales in comparison to human randomness. If you spend an average of five hours in the game the continuity of your actions are on average are very very very very low. However the most advanced "random" bot script (RSbot, NeXus/Ibot, Scar, and others) are considerably more accurate in movement patterns. No, most do not click on the same pixel, but they do click within a certain pixel radius making them much more detectable. A.I is not like this. It doesn't need an anti-ban script to mimic human behaviour, because it is human behaviour. It makes mistakes and then it fixes those mistakes.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is truely the future of botting. I can see no possible way that Jagex will ever be able to detect them (if you don't play 24/7). I strongly urge you to try out some of the bots as they are simply amazing (I'm running one now). If you are interested and want to know more post your questions below. Else here is the link to "robotz in disguise," the first 100% scriptless bots run fully on A.I. They also offer a four hour trial which is really cool. http://www.robotzindisguise.com/
Thank you for Reading,
Happy Botting!
Introduction
In my last article I briefly covered what my speculations were on the future of botting. Many of you may ask yourselves what I mean by this. To put it simply I see botting moving into a new generation. One where bots no longer rely on scripts to dictate their decisions but rather are able to make their own decisions on the spot in real time. What I am referring to is A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
Different Input Techniques
In 2008 Robots In Disguise was the first to attempt to do this. They no longer relied on complicated scripts that used reflection and BCEL to read or write to the client, but straight color recognition algorithms that were then used as input.
The method implied today by most modern bot clients is known as reflection. NeXus does this very well. However the disadvantage to this is that the bot-client loads the Runescape.jar into it's own virtual machine. Meaning that you are literally downloading the entire RS client rather than just playing it via web-browser. This isn't necessarily illegal, but if you were suspected of botting this is often one of the many things Jagex looks for.
About A.I
Artificial intelligence is a programming technique that has baffled computer scientists for years. It is true that "true A.I" has not yet been achieved, that is Artificial Intelligence that is sanctioned and understands its own existence (imagine one of those playing on an account 24/7). However computer scientists have made ground breaking discoveries to mimic intelligence. In this article it is this type of A.I that I am referring to.
The ability to learn is one of the many things that make up intelligence. There have been brilliant breakthroughs in copying this attribute into a computer program. This technique is known as neural netting. A Neural Network in computer science is designed to replicate how the human brain processes information. It bounces packets of data from node to node. There are three levels or layers to how they work. First you have an input in this case colour and shape recognition. Your input is then sent to a hidden layer hidden layer, this is where decision making is made (it could be random or systematic depending on which ever is more efficient). The last layer is output (or the click). The computer program then figures out how successful it was and will adapt the program based on the output. So far no bot has implemented neural networks and this is definitely something I want to see.
A.I Botting v.s. Script Botting
Artificial intelligence is superior to scripting because it uses choice to solve problems rather then simple predefined commands. A script looks at basic inputs like location, object ids, and color. It then takes these inputs and executes a set of predefined commands based on that specific situation. Artificial intelligence does not work like this. It to requires input like scripts, but instead of executing them in fashion A, B, or C it makes a choice within a predefined set of parameters. Basically an A.I program will look at what it needs to accomplish and then attempt to accomplish it within the bounds of the parameters set. This results in billions of different combinations of events.
Take for example a simple tree cutting script in the first figure. As soon as it attempts logs in it receives input to do one of two things. It can either check location, or fail to login in which case the script quits. If it does log in it will either check to see if the proper tree is where it expects it or move to the proper coordinates. I could go on in on but I think its the point is made how complexed scripts can get, some with as many as 30,000 possible different scenarios. However this pales in comparison to human randomness. If you spend an average of five hours in the game the continuity of your actions are on average are very very very very low. However the most advanced "random" bot script (RSbot, NeXus/Ibot, Scar, and others) are considerably more accurate in movement patterns. No, most do not click on the same pixel, but they do click within a certain pixel radius making them much more detectable. A.I is not like this. It doesn't need an anti-ban script to mimic human behaviour, because it is human behaviour. It makes mistakes and then it fixes those mistakes.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is truely the future of botting. I can see no possible way that Jagex will ever be able to detect them (if you don't play 24/7). I strongly urge you to try out some of the bots as they are simply amazing (I'm running one now). If you are interested and want to know more post your questions below. Else here is the link to "robotz in disguise," the first 100% scriptless bots run fully on A.I. They also offer a four hour trial which is really cool. http://www.robotzindisguise.com/
Thank you for Reading,
Happy Botting!




