AB Pruning

Alpha-Beta pruning is an optimization technique for the minimax algorithm used in artificial intelligence (AI) programming, such as game development. It cuts off branches in the game tree that don't need to be searched because there's already a better move available. It uses two parameters, alpha and beta, which represent the minimum score that the maximizing player is assured of and the maximum score that the minimizing player is assured of, respectively. During the traversal of the game tree, branches of the tree that cannot possibly influence the final decision are not explored. This process 'prunes' the minimax tree, saving computational time and resources.