[ionforce]

The correct terminology would be "control groups".

The configuration of control groups is visible in replays; AlphaStar's replay data does not have any control groups in it.

Though, via its API, it is able to select arbitrary groups of units from anywhere on the map.

Personally, I would have loved to see it work through control group management because I think that is something that is important and steals attention away from humans. But probably to the researchers, it is just annoying data to model that doesn't get to the "core" of StarCraft.