Tencent Software Beats Go Champ, Showing China's AI Gains

In March 2016, Alphabet's DeepMind research group set a milestone in artificial intelligence when its AlphaGo program defeated professional Go player Lee Sedol, then fifth-ranked in the world, at the complex board game Go. Now China's Tencent is claiming a milestone of its own in Go--and China's ambitions in artificial intelligence. Last week, the company's Fine Art program defeated China's top professional Ke Jie, despite giving him a significant head start. Ke recently slipped to number two in the world, after holding the top spot for three years. Fine Art's victory won notice in the world of Go because it helps illustrate the gulf that has opened between human and machine players of the complex boardgame.