Google confidently continues its march into the field of artificial intelligence as yesterday its DeepMind-based AlphaGo defeated the world’s number one ranked Go player, Ke Jie.
The game – which was the first out of an extensive matchup scheduled for three parts – took place at The Future of Go Summit in the Chinese town of Wuzhen. The two remaining showdowns are slated to go down later during this week on May 23 and May 25, with experts predicting AlphaGo to further extend its lead.
Though the tricky AI ultimately edged out Jie with its patient but dominant approach to the game, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis hailed the human for his daring and often unorthodox plays. The first game ended in a measly half-point difference, which is the closest winning margin possible in Go.
#AlphaGo wins game 1! Ke Jie fought bravely and some wonderful moves were played.
— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) May 23, 2017
Game went to a count. #AlphaGo won by just half a point, the closest margin possible. Ke Jie played a great game.
— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) May 23, 2017
Interestingly, during the post-game press conference Go pundits and aficionados – Hassabis included – took a moment to point out how meticulously Jie had studied some of the tactics AlphaGo employed in its previous contests.
As the DeepMind leader noted on Twitter and in his post-event commentary, early on during the game Jie resorted to several maneuvers AlphaGo pulled off earlier this year, when Google secretly squared the AI off against a slew of professional Go players under the moniker of ‘Master.’
Interesting that Ke Jie has decided to play an very early 3-3 point as he knows #AlphaGo likes to play there.
— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) May 23, 2017
Ke Jie is using the ideas #AlphaGo used in the master series of online games in January against AlphaGo :) intriguing to see what it will do
— Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) May 23, 2017
You can watch the full first game in the video section below. The remaining two bouts will be livestreamed on the official The Future of Go Summit page here.
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