Uni scholar now Google scientist

A leader in artificial intelligence first honed his skills at the University of Waikato.

Now, after launching a computer program with the ability to learn on its own, he has returned to accept a Distinguished Alumni Award.

Dr Shane Legg arrived at the Hamilton campus on Tuesday, and traced the footsteps he first walked in 1993.

He graduated in 1996, when the internet was a relatively new mechanism, and soon after went on to co-found Google DeepMind.

Launched in 2010, the company is widely known for creating a computer system modelled on the human brain that learns how to play video games.

Their AlphaGo program beat a human professional Go player for the first time in 2015, while AlphaZero beat the most powerful programs playing Go and chess after only a few hours of playing against itself.

DeepMind was purchased by Google in 2014, with Legg as its chief scientist.

Legg’s curiosity in computing began as a child, but it wasn’t until his tertiary study that he was able to sharpen his skillset.

‘‘I’ve been programming since I was 9-years-old, so back in 1982, I owned a pretty small computer, but we didn’t have the internet.

‘‘My first taste of the internet was at Waikato Uni. That’s when I got my first email address and web browser and discovered there was a huge world out there,’’ he said.

‘‘It was all very new then, it was before Google or anything like that.’’

University of Waikato was the pioneer of bringing internet to New Zealand, with the first connection made by John Houlker in April 1989.

It also became the first university in the country to have cyber-graduates completing teaching degrees online, so it was fitting for the former Rotorua Lakes High School student to complete his undergraduate studies there.

Legg went on to study at the University of Auckland and obtained his PhD from the Dalle Molle Institute in Switzerland. In 2009, he jetted off to the UK.

‘‘After I finished my PhD in Switzerland I went to University College London and there’s a research institute there called the Gatsby Unit. When I was there, I was really interested in artificial intelligence, neuroscience and so on.’’