Google's artificial intelligence program AlphaGo stunned players and fans of the ancient Chinese board game of go last year by defeating South Korean grandmaster Lee Sedol 4-1. Last month, an upgraded version of the program achieved a more astonishing feat by trouncing Ke Jie from China, the world's top player, 3-0 in a five-game contest. In the world of go, AI appears to have surpassed humans, ushering in an age in which human players will need to learn from AI. What happened in the game of go also poses a larger question of how humans can coexist with AI in other fields.
In a go match, two players alternately lay black and white stones on 361 points of intersection on a board with a 19-by-19 grid of lines, trying to seal off a larger territory than the opponent. It is said that the number of possible moves amounts to 10 to the power of 360. This huge variety of options compels even top-class players to differ on the question of which moves are the best. Such freedom to maneuver caused experts to believe it would take a while before AI would catch up with humans in the world of go. Against this background, AlphaGo's sweeping victory over the world's No. 1 player is a significant event that not only symbolizes the rapid development of computer science but is also encouraging for the application of AI in various fields.
In part of the contest with Lee in Seoul in March 2016, AlphaGo made irrational moves, cornering itself into a disadvantageous position. But in the case of its contest with Ke in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen in late May, it made convincing moves throughout, subjecting the human to a "horrible experience." He called AlphaGo "a go player like a god."