AlphaGo's unusual moves prove its AI prowess, experts say

Playing against a top Go player, Google DeepMind's AlphaGo artificial-intelligence program has puzzled commentators with moves that are often described as "beautiful," but do not fit into the usual human style of play. Artificial-intelligence experts think these moves reflect a key AI strength of AlphaGo, its ability to learn from its experience. Such moves cannot be produced by just incorporating human knowledge, said Doina Precup, associate professor in the School of Computer Science at McGill University in Quebec, in an email interview. "AlphaGo represents not only a machine that thinks, but one that can learn and strategize," agreed Howard Yu, professor of strategic management and innovation at IMD business school. AlphaGo won three games consecutively against Lee Se-dol last week in Seoul, securing the tournament and US$1 million in prize money that Google plans to give to charities. The program, however, lost the fourth game on Sunday when it made a mistake.