BEIJING--A mysterious character named "Master" has swept through China, defeating many of the world's top players in the ancient strategy game of Go.

Master played with inhuman speed, barely pausing to think. With a wide-eyed cartoon fox as an avatar, Master made moves that seemed foolish but inevitably led to victory this week over the world's reigning Go champion, Ke Jie of China.

It was clear by then that Master must be a computer. But whose computer?

Master revealed itself Wednesday as an updated version of AlphaGo, an artificial-intelligence program designed by the DeepMind unit of Alphabet Inc.'s Google.

AlphaGo made history in March by beating South Korea's top Go player in four of five games in Seoul. Now, under the guise of a friendly fox, it has defeated the world champion.

It was dramatic theater, and the latest sign that artificial intelligence is peerless in solving complex but defined problems. AI scientists predict computers will increasingly be able to search through thickets of alternatives to find patterns and solutions that elude the human mind.

Master's arrival has shaken China's human Go players, who say it upended thousands of years of the game's strategic wisdom.

"After humanity spent thousands of years improving our tactics, computers tell us that humans are completely wrong," Mr. Ke, 19, wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo after his defeat. "I would go as far as to say not a single human has touched the edge of the truth of Go."

Mr. Ke wrote online that he was told in advance that Master was AlphaGo but had agreed to keep it a secret until Google's announcement. The games were played online against players in China, Japan and Korea.

Go was invented around 2,500 years ago in China and remains popular across East Asia. The rules are simple: Players take turns placing black and white stones on a grid, seeking to capture patches of territory by surrounding them.

Chess became the domain of computers in 1997 when International Business Machines Corp.'s Deep Blue computer defeated Garry Kasparov in a historic match. But the possible moves in Go are near-infinite, making it a game where humans still had the edge until this year.

Master puzzled its human rivals by placing pieces in unconventional positions early in the game and changing tactics from game to game. Sometimes Master skirmished with its opponent across the whole board, while other times it relinquished territory with hardly a fight.

Master's record--60 wins, 0 losses over seven days ending Wednesday--led virtuoso Go player Gu Li to wonder what other conventional beliefs might be smashed by computers in the future.

"AlphaGo has completely subverted the control and judgment of us Go players," Mr. Gu, the final player to be vanquished by Master, wrote on his Weibo account. "I can't help but ask, one day many years later, when you find your previous awareness, cognition and choices are all wrong, will you keep going along the wrong path or reject yourself?"

DeepMind Chief Executive Demis Hassabis wrote on Twitter that AlphaGo will return to more official matches this year, after the anonymous testing of the new version through Master.

"Over the past few days we've played some unofficial online games at fast time controls with our new prototype version, to check that it's working as well as we hoped," Mr. Hassabis tweeted. "We're excited by the results."

Professor Sun Fuchun, a computer science professor at China's Tsinghua University, said that computers will exceed humans in increasingly complex skills. Computers will continue to take on more roles now performed by humans, he predicted, including as romantic partners, an idea explored in the 2013 movie "Her."

"I believe AI will replace humans in many different ways," he said, "including medical treatment, the military, teachers and even intimate relations."

Eva Dou and Olivia Geng

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 05, 2017 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Alphabet Charts.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Alphabet Charts.