Robotics 1-0 Humanity: Google's DeepMind AI beats Go world champion in first match

9 months ago

In a sure sign that humanity is doomed, Google’s artificial intelligence program DeepMind has beaten the world champion of board game Go in the first of a five-game series.

The match is taking place in South Korea, where Go world champion Lee Sedol is based, with one million US dollars (£700,000) up for grabs – though Google plans to donate the money to charity should it win.

The victory by AlphaGo, the artificial intelligence program developed by Google DeepMind, over South Korean Go champion Lee is significant because the ancient Chinese game, one of the most creative and complex to be devised, was difficult for computers to master.

The defeat came as a shock to Lee, who has 18 world championships to his name (the second most of any Go player ever), and has been a professional since the age of 12.

“I was very surprised because I did not think that I would lose the game. A mistake I made at the very beginning lasted until the very last.”

Yoo Chang-hyuk, another South Korean Go master who commentated on the game, described the result as a big shock and said Mr Lee appeared to have been shaken at one point.

Hundreds of thousands of people watched the game live on TV and YouTube.

The near-infinite number of board positions in Go requires players to rely on intuition in making their moves. AlphaGo was designed to mimic that intuition in tackling complex tasks.

Artificial intelligence experts had forecast it would take another decade for computers to beat professional Go players, until AlphaGo beat a European Go champion last year.

The second game in the series will take place overnight on Wednesday, and will again be streamed online.