Last year, Google and Deepmind stunned the world by building an AI capable of beating the best Go player in the world. This year, AlphaGo will undertake its biggest challenge yet at the Future of Go summit in Wuzen.
AlphaGo did not technically beat the world’s best Go player last year. Lee Sedol, who lost 4-1, was ranked as the second best when he competed against the AI. Instead, the title of “best in the world” is currently held by Ke Jie, a 19-year old from China. Naturally, Google has arranged for him to meet AlphaGo in an official match at the upcoming summit.
Ke Jie is not the only one who will be trying to humble the AI. Two other matches are being set up. One being against a team of five players; while a second match has two players teaming up with copies of AlphaGo.
AlphaGo has not been resting on its laurels since beating Lee on his home turf. The Deepmind team had secretly released it onto the online Go community. It managed to accumulate a winning streak of 50 games before people began to notice that something was off about the way it played. It was at that time that the team came clean and admitted what was going on.
Interestingly, AlphaGo’s future opponent Ke Jie tried his hand against the AI during this time and lost on several occasions.
The Future of Go summit is a collaboration between Google, the China Go Association, and the Chinese government. It is scheduled to take place from 23 to 27 May.
[Source: The Verge]
