Google’s artificial intelligence software has experts hailing the latest advance in computer technology after it beat the reigning world champion of ancient Chinese board game Go.
In the first of five matches to take place over the next few days, Google DeepMind AlphaGo proved too strong for Lee Se-dol with a performance that left the Korean highly impressed.
“I’m very surprised,” Lee said. “I didn’t think I’d lose. My initial failure in today’s Go match continued throughout the game to the end. Of course at the beginning I didn’t know I’d be beaten. I was surprised that AlphaGo played such a perfect game.”
This isn’t the first time artificial intelligence has out-witted a human opponent, with IBM’s Deep Blue famously beating former chess champion Garry Kasparov back in 1997. However, Go is considerably more complex than chess.
Played on a board of 19 x 19 squares, the two players take turns placing their “stones” on the intersections of a grid with the goal of sealing off areas and surrounding the opponent’s stone, which are then removed. Points are calculated at the end of the game by counting both the stones on the board and the captured stones.
However, because of the 361 intersections produced by the board’s squares, the number of possible moves is astronomical – in fact there are more possible moves in Go than there are atoms in the universe!
As a result, it takes not only an expert knowledge of the game but a high level of intuition to prevail over a good opponent which is why AlphaGo’s victory over Lee is considered so significant.
The winner of this five match contest will receive US$1 million with Google set to donate the prize money to charity if it wins.
