[Courtesy of Google]
Google's computer program AlphaGo on Thursday beat South Korean Go master Lee Sedol, taking a 2-0 lead in a historic match between a human and artificial intelligence.
The 33-year-old, driven to a last-minute countdown, resigned after exchanging 211 moves with AlphaGo in the second of a landmark five-game match at a hotel in Seoul, succumbing to the computer's aggressive and well-calculated attack.
Lee, one of the world's best Go players, who has won 18 world championships, conceded his defeat after playing nearly four and a half hours, saying he was overwhelmed by AlphaGo's ability. "From the beginning, I never thought I was taking the lead," he said.
"I think AphaGo played a perfect game," he said, adding it's very difficult to beat artificial intelligence (AI). The next match will be held at the same venue on Saturday.
Demis Hassabis, the head of Google's AI company DeepMind, said he was also "speechless" over AlphaGo's second consecutive victory.
"We are very pleased that AlphaGo showed pretty beautiful and amazing moves," he said, adding the program appeared to realize "what was happening".
In the first game on Wednesday, AlphaGo shocked experts who had predicted Lee's clean victory. The computer played in an incomprehensible and anomalous manner, which commentators said could be mistakes or algorithm errors, but it proved that such moves might have been intentional.
For the second match, AlphaGo started off with anomalies, forcing Lee to change his usual aggressive and unconventional style of play and act cautiously. However, Alphago launched aggressive counterattacks, rattling his emotional calmness.
Pressured by time, Lee tried to come back in the center but failed to overcome AlphaGo's high-level calculation.
Experts said AlphaGo's certain moves may look like mistakes, but the result showed its broader perspective appeared to be aimed at winning the game despite losses in some parts of the board.
The match was seen as a major test of what scientists have achieved in AI.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
