Google’s AlphaGo beats world’s best ‘Go’ player in the first of three matches

Why it matters to you

Although AI continues to best the world’s greatest game players, they are keeping the fight alive by using the AI’s own moves against them.

Although it is widely accepted that artificial intelligence will one day be able to beat humans at just about any game, that does not mean we have stopped trying. In the first of three planned games, the best Go player in the world tried to use Google’s AlphaGo AI’s own moves against it, but to no avail. In this latest series of games, the AI is winning 1-0.

It’s been two decades since supercomputers were used to beat the world’s best chess players, which is why over the past few years Go, the far more complex game, has been the subject of much research by AI developers and game players alike. But despite humanity’s greatest efforts, they have been toppled time and again, leading some to resort to some interesting tactics.

The latest attempt saw arguably the world’s greatest Go player, 19-year-old Ke Jie, adopt strategies shown by the AlphaGo system during earlier games. He was previously been defeated by the AI in January but like any great player, he learned from it and brought some of the ideas AlphaGo developed to the table this time around. While it did not help him win, according to DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, it did lead to some exciting gameplay.

However, the match was hard-fought. Jie eventually lost by just half a point, the closest margin possible in a game of Go. While ArsTechnica does point out that AlphaGo is programmed to aim for victory alone rather than trying to dominate the opposition, the feat is still impressive and suggests that while AI may have the advantage in Go play, the best human minds can still give it a run for its money.

Indeed, Jie is not done yet. He still has two more games to play, the first on Thursday, followed by a final game on Saturday. AlphaGo is also set to try its luck against a team of five pro players as part of an exhibition game on Friday. Perhaps the combined might of high-tier players will be enough to topple what is arguably the greatest Go mind ever created, even if it is an artificial one.