NYTimes | Computer, one. Human, zero.
A Google
computer program stunned one of the world’s top players on Wednesday in
a round of Go, which is believed to be the most complex board game ever
created.
The match — between Google
DeepMind’s AlphaGo and the South Korean Go master Lee Se-dol — was
viewed as an important test of how far research into artificial
intelligence has come in its quest to create machines smarter than
humans.
“I
am very surprised because I have never thought I would lose,” Mr. Lee
said at a news conference in Seoul. “I didn’t know that AlphaGo would
play such a perfect Go.”
Mr. Lee acknowledged defeat after three and a half hours of play.
Demis
Hassabis, the founder and chief executive of Google’s artificial
intelligence team DeepMind, the creator of AlphaGo, called the program’s
victory a “historic moment.”
