Ke Jie: It's my honor to challenge AlphaGo
- By Chen Xia
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 24, 2017
China's Ke Jie, currently the world's No. 1 Go player, said it was an honor to challenge Google's artificial intelligence bot AlphaGo, and he would spare no efforts to try and win the following two games after losing the first round of the three-game match on Tuesday.
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China's Ke Jie makes a move in a match with Google's AlphaGo in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province in eastern China, May 23, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua News Agency] |
Given the opposing performances in the first game, Ke felt the only way to win would be to detect any weaknesses in AlphaGo's program, as relying on the usual tactics would not work.
"I used to think that it must have weak points, but now I'm convinced that its understanding of the Go game and its judgment during matches are vastly superior to human beings," Ke said when interviewed after the first game.
In the match, AlphaGo made an unexpected and novel move. "It's very unlikely for human players to think that way," Ke said. "The single move served multiple purposes, so I totally deserved to lose."
Ke's view was shared by Nie Weiping, another Chinese Go master and former world champion. "AlphaGo's strategic thinking is far superior to human," he said. "Ke just played into its hands."
Ke lost to the AlphaGo by half a point, which is regarded as the slightest of losses in Go term, but Nie believed the result was controlled by AlphaGo. "I felt its aim was to win safely, so it only made simple moves, which was not the best it could achieve," Nie said. "Although it won with a slight advantage, this was obvious, and the result was unchangeable."
AlphaGo has made constant improvements after defeating South Korean Go legend Lee Se-dol in March last year. According to Google's research team, the AI bot has accumulated enough experience from playing humans and is devising its own tactics. Engineers are also working on programs to enable it to make multiple plans following a single move, thus increasing, and, indeed, controlling its chances of victory.
Ahead of time, Ke had been confident of beating AlphaGo; however, after their first meeting, he joked that he had changed his mind and preferred to stick to playing humans. "The more you play with a computer, the more likely you will lose. Eventually, your chances to win will approach zero. It's too desperate. However, my chances to win would be much higher if my opponent is another human being."
Ke's second match with AlphaGo will be held on Thursday.
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