AlphaGo and its representative (left) playing Go with Lee Sedol, professional Go player (right)
Yesterday, we reported that a Go-playing computer program, AlphaGo, grabbed the first win against the best Go player in the world, Lee Sedol and it was the first time that a system could do such feat in human history. Today, it got the second win again this time after 211 moves. Both players played two full hours of regulation time, going into byō-yomi overtime. And just for your information, AlphaGo actually learns from experience.
According to the commentators, Michael Redmond, 9-dan US commentator, remarked how impressed he was with AlphaGo's play because it's always strong at the middle and end game, and making a beautiful, innovative opening. On the other hand, Yoo Changhyuk, 9-dan, Korean commentator, said “during the first match, Lee Sedol made difficult moves to agitate AlphaGo, but failed to do so yesterday. Today, he tried the opposite — he played safe and entered the endgame. While using his byō-yomi periods, he made some mistakes, which I think caused the defeat.”
Lee Sedol (left) and Demis Hassabis (right) after the post-game
Demis Hassabis, Co-Founder and CEO of DeepMind, said, “That was dramatic to say the least! Lee Sedol put up an incredible performance and had our expert commentators divided over the result until the end. AlphaGo played some really surprising and beautiful moves in this game.”
Lee Sedol said at the post-game press conference, “Yesterday, I was surprised, but today I am quite speechless. If you look at the way the game was played, it was a very clear loss on my part. Yesterday I felt like AlphaGo played certain problematic positions, but today I felt that AlphaGo played a near perfect game. There was not a moment I felt like its moves were unreasonable.”
As mentioned, the Google DeepMind Challenge Match is a best of five series, the winner can get $1 million USD in prize money. But if AlphaGo wins, the prize money will be donated to UNICEF, STEM charities, and Go organizations. For more information, check the Google DeepMind Challenge Match press site.
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