Conquering More Than Games: The Next Level of AI Observer

Future historians of technology may look back at one week this March as a tipping point of a new era, and it all started with smooth black-and-white stones on a simple wooden board. It was a five-game match of Go, the ancient Chinese board game, pitting top-ranked world champion Lee Se-dol against an artificial intelligence system called AlphaGo from Google's DeepMind. Although Lee confidently predicted a shutout victory over AlphaGo, the system beat him a resounding 4-1. Games were live-streamed around the world, with a monumental ending reminiscent of Garry Kasparov's 1997 defeat against Deep Blue. But this AI victory goes far beyond the basic mathematical win that Deep Blue achieved. Among other factors, chess has fewer possible legal moves and a well-defined end state: checkmate.