Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can do it using the techniques employed here: https://github.com/aikorea/strikersii_ai/tree/master/genetic Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Ir8yd9iOk In terms of FGs, you would store the relevant game state as inputs and build a reward function around health, time, damage done etc. A relatively simple (and useful!) SFII AI would be one that tries to win by only using crouching medium kick, sweep and throw.
I just meant straight up using the scripting language described in the article to hand-code an AI.
if (distanceBetweenChars()
etc...Here's a demo of one that reads the distance between characters and either dashes in and does a low attack, or attempts to throw you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9THKU63viM
It's pretty simple to have this script run for Player 1 and Player 2.
In a competitive environment (ie. when you have AI vs AI) the players involved would need to agree on certain limitations, otherwise it would be pretty simple to build an AI that reacts "instantly" to stimuli.