Summary
This article clarifies the connections between certain algorithms to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and the econometrics of dynamic structural models, with concrete examples of three 'game AIs'. Chess-playing Deep Blue is a calibrated value function, whereas shogi-playing Bonanza is an estimated value function via Rust’s nested fixed-point (NFXP) method. AlphaGo’s 'supervised-learning policy network' is a deep-neural-network implementation of the conditional-choice-probability (CCP) estimation reminiscent of Hotz and Miller's first step; the construction of its 'reinforcement-learning value network' is analogous to their conditional choice simulation (CCS). I then explain the similarities and differences between AI-related methods and structural estimation more generally, and suggest areas of potential cross-fertilization.
Dynamic structural models, problems and prospects: mixed continuous discrete controls and market interactions