Robot taught itself never seen before chess moves in hours

Will robots one day destroy us? For developments in artificial intelligence (AI) -- machines programmed to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence -- are poised to reshape our workplace and leisure time dramatically. This year, a leading Oxford academic, Professor Michael Wooldridge, warned MPs that AI could go'rogue', that machines might become so complex that the engineers who create them will no longer understand them or be able to predict how they function. AlphaZero taught itself chess in just four hours and thrashed a grandmaster using moves never seen before in the game's 1,500 year history Yes, it's a concern, but a'historic' new development makes unpredictable decisions by AI machines the least of our worries. And it all started with a game of chess. AlphaZero, an AI computer program, this month proved itself to be the world's greatest ever chess champion, thrashing a previous title-holder, another AI system called Stockfish 8, in a 100-game marathon.