AlphaGo, Google Deepmind’s very powerful artificial intelligence, has won its first match against the world champion of Go, Lee Sedol. The world champ is going to play a series of five matches against the AI, the first of which has been won by the latter. Google broadcasted the match live on YouTube.
Google says that it was a close first game between AlphaGo and Sedol. After 186 moves, AlphaGo won the game by resignation. The company said that the game looked neck-and-neck through its entirety and that both sides demonstrated complex fighting.
Whoever wins the five game series gets $1 million in prize money. AlphaGo is in with a good chance as it has already beaten Fan Hui, the three-time European Go champion in a similar five match series.
However, Sedol is widely believed to be a much harder opponent, he has dominated the game for a long time and could give the AI a run for its money. Following the outcome of the first match, Sedol said that he was surprised by the result and added that he enjoyed the game and that he’s looking forward to the next one.
Think of this as mankind vs the machines and the start hasn’t been that promising for the former. Today Go, tomorrow the world?
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