South Korean 9-dan pro Go champion Lee Sedol goes against AlphaGo for the second time in the Google DeepMind Challenge, where artificial and human intelligence clash in a game of wits.
The first match went to AlphaGo, changing the opinion of many of the top Go players who thought that the feat was impossible before. This time around, the computer program has proven that it's more than capable of keeping up the pace with the best of the best, scoring a 2 to 0 lead in a match of best out of five.
The third match will be held after a one-day break on Saturday. Needless to say, Sedol can't afford another loss and will have to win the three remaining rounds consecutively to come out on top.
"Yesterday I was surprised, but today, more than that, I'm quite speechless ... There was not a moment in time where I felt that I was leading the game," Sedol says.
The Go champion was also asked if he found any weakness in AlphaGo. He says he hasn't found one yet.
Go is a game that pits two players against each other, and it's played on a board with 361 squares. With an inexhaustible supply of white and black pieces called stones, players can capture opposing stones and claim territories across the board. The player who creates the most territories is the winner.
Experts who believed that it would have taken one more decade before artificial intelligence can beat a Go champion were astonished, as the event also essentially proves that the first match was by no means a fluke of any sort.
Even Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk was more than impressed over the matter.
Congrats to DeepMind! Many experts in the field thought AI was 10 years away from achieving this. https://t.co/5gGZZkud3K
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2016
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis,who developed AlphaGo, tweeted that the recent match was "excruciatingly nerve-wracking." He also noted that more than 100 million viewers watched the first game online.
#AlphaGo wins match 2, to take a 2-0 lead!! Hard for us to believe. AlphaGo played some beautiful creative moves in this game. Mega-tense... — Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis) March 10, 2016
Going beyond the match, this is a remarkable indication of the advancement of artificial intelligence. As mentioned earlier, the next game will be held on Saturday, and that will reveal whether Sedol can make a big comeback or not.
