Google's Go-playing AI is already ahead by one game, beating Ke Jie in the opening match of a three match series.
When the ancient game of Go was beaten by an artificial intelligence, it took the world by storm. Some were shocker, while others hailed it as the rise of the machines. AlphaGo’s victory over Lee Se-dol last year was a historic moment for AI researchers. However, while Google rejoiced, the issues wasn’t quite settled within the Go community. The world’s top-ranked player, 19-year-old Ke Jie issued a challenge of sorts to the AI, saying that he could beat the machine at his country’s traditional game.
Google-owned Deepmind, the creators of AlphaGo gladly accepted the challenge, jumping at an opportunity to establish their machine’s superiority. The result? A Future of Go summit organised by Google in China, where AlphaGo would play two exhibition matches, and a three match challenge against Jie. You probably know that Jie lost the first match already, you may even have watched it. But the entire country of China was banned from doing so.
Ke Jie playing AlphaGo at Google's Future of Go summit
The Chinese government issued a censorship notice against live coverage of the AlphaGo vs Ke Jie matches, directing any outlet to refrain from livestreaming, live blogging or even posting on social media, about these matches. Why did it do so? Because the government though Jie’s possibly (and now likely) loss to AlphaGo would be a national shame for the country. The notice, found on Chinadigitaltimes.net, reads:
Regarding the go match between Ke Jie and AlphaGo, no website, without exception, may carry a live stream. If one has been announced in advance, please immediately withdraw it. Please convey the gist of this to sports channels.
Again, we stress: this match may not be broadcast live in any form and without exception, including text commentary, photography, video streams, self-media accounts and so on. No website (including sports and technology channels) or desktop or mobile apps may issue news alerts or push notifications about the course or result of the match.
The over 2000-year-old game of Go was invented in China and has been part of the country’s tradition since. In fact, mastering the game of Go was considered an essential art for the scholarly castes in China. Interestingly, after losing the first match to AlphaGo, Jie said playing against the AI was “like playing a god of Go”.
The second match between the human and artificial adversaries is underway right now.
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Prasid Banerjee
Trying to explain technology to my parents. Failing miserably. View Full Profile
