Google’s AI system AlphaGo has once again proved its dominance in the complex strategy game, defeating the world’s number one Go player, Ke Jie. The AI beat Ke today in the second of three scheduled matches, securing its victory over him regardless of the last round’s outcome.
Ke Jie playing the opening against AlphaGo – Google
This latest win is huge for Google, as it proves that AlphaGo has surpassed human player, just a little over a year after beating another world-renowned player, Lee Se-dol.
According to AlphaGo’s analysis, Ke played “perfectly for the first 50 or so moves in the second match, and adapted his strategies in an attempt to flank AlphaGo in multiple skirmishes across the board. However, the AI dealt with the multi-pronged onslaught capably, countering Ke at every turn before finally forcing him to resign. “For the first 100 moves it was the closest we’ve ever seen anyone play against the Master version of AlphaGo,” DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said in a press conference after the game.
“Today’s game was different from the first,” Ke told the media. “AlphaGo made some moves which were opposite from my vision of how to maximize the possibility of winning. I also thought I was very close to winning the game in the middle but maybe that’s not what AlphaGo was thinking. I’m a little bit sad, it’s a bit of a regret because I think I played pretty well.”
AlphaGo, developed by Google’s AI development group DeepMind, uses neural networks and machine learning to analyse an opponent’s moves and pick the responses most likely to be successful. Challenging and beating a world-class human player at the game Go is a milestone for artificial intelligence, as the game is devilishly complex, offering hundreds of possible moves.
The final game against Ke will take place on Saturday, while AlphaGo will be pushed to the limits of its capabilities on Friday, where it will participate in two special matches; one where it will act as teammate to two Chinese pros facing off, and another where it will battle five Chinese professional players simultaneously.