China’s Ke vows victory in AI match
Top- ranked player to challenge Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo in May
China’s Ke Jie has vowed to do his best against Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo in May, as the duo are set to play three rounds in a man- versus- machine matchup likely to attract global attention from both in and outside the Go world.
“The matchup means there will be wins and defeats. As the opponent, I will not concede defeat easily but do my best,” Ke said Monday in Beijing of the games against AlphaGo, which runs on artificial intelligence.
“There’s no talk of ‘ Losing doesn’t matter’ or ‘ Win- win for both humanity and AI’ for me,” Ke declared. “I will do whatever it takes to defeat it.”
At the age of 19, Ke has become the world No. 1 in the aged sport, known as Weiqi in China. But he also suffered a defeat earlier this year when competing against the unofficial updated version of AlphaGo.
The prototype version of a new AlphaGo, named “Master,” swept through 60 Go players in online games at speed pace – every move to be made within 30 seconds.
“Though I haven’t played against AI in a competition, we did some beta tests. We thought AI’s strong calculation system was the key for its success, but its vision during the games is more astonishing,” Ke said. “AI has inspired us to more tactics and made us think again about our past playing ways.”
AlphaGo made international headlines in March 2016, when it defeated South Korean Go great Lee Se- dol 4- 1 in a best- of- five series which drew worldwide attention, with the showdown dubbed a clash between human intelligence and AI.
Ke, who turned pro in 2008, is now a nine- dan ranked player, the top title for a professional Go player.
Many believe it will be hard for Ke to win against the swift self- learning AI machine, but Gu Li, a Chinese ninedan ranked Go player, believes the more AlphaGo plays, the higher the possibility it will show its vulnerability.
“We believe [ South Korea’s Lee] didn’t play at his regular level last year … One of the major reasons for his defeat was due to the fact that he didn’t know his opponent very well,” Gu said.
“Lee’s games, as well as the online games earlier this year, have let us learn more about AlphaGo. The more games it plays, the higher chance we can find its weakness.”
Ke’s one- on- one games against AlphaGo are the marquee event for a fiveday Go summit to be held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province in May.
The five- day Go festival also includes a mixed doubles match between Gu and China’s eight- dan ranked Lian Xiao, who will face each other with an AlphaGo teammate respectively.
A team game between AlphaGo and a five- player team, consisting of China’s top pro players – nine- dan ranked Mi Yuting, Shi Yue, Tang Weixing, Zhou Ruiyang and Chen Yaoye – will try to test AlphaGo’s creativity and adaptability to their combined style.
Go, an ancient Chinese board game popular throughout East Asia, involves two contestants moving black and white stones on a square grid with the aim of seizing the most territory.