Newest version of self-taught, 'superhuman' AI now even smarter: makers

PARIS – The updated version of the computer that stunned humanity by beating the best mortal players at a strategy board game requiring intuition has become even smarter, its makers said Wednesday. Even more startling, the new version of AlphaGo is entirely self-taught -- a major step toward the rise of machines that achieve superhuman abilities "with no human input," they reported in the science journal Nature. Dubbed AlphaGo Zero, the artificial intelligence system learned by itself, within days, to master the ancient Chinese board game known as go -- said to be the most complex two-person game ever invented. It came up with its own, novel moves to eclipse all the go acumen that humans have acquired over thousands of years. After just three days of self-training, it was put to the ultimate test against its forerunner AlphaGo, which had dethroned the top human champs. AlphaGo Zero won by 100 games to zero.