Google DeepMind: Ground-breaking AlphaGo masters the game of Go

In a paper published in Nature on 28th January 2016, we describe a new approach to computer Go. This is the first time ever that a computer program "AlphaGo" has defeated a human professional player. The game of Go is widely viewed as an unsolved "grand challenge" for artificial intelligence. Games are a great testing ground for inventing smarter, more flexible algorithms that have the ability to tackle problems in ways similar to humans. The first classic game mastered by a computer was noughts and crosses (also known as tic-tac-toe) in 1952. But until now, one game has thwarted A.I. researchers: the ancient game of Go.