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TECHNOLOGY A23
Monday 14 March 2016
Human Go champion scores 1st win over machine after 3 losses
LEE JIN-MAN South Korean professional Go player Lee Sedol reviews the match after winning the fourth match saying it would make a vic-
YOUKYUNG LEE tory more meaningful.
Associated Press of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match against Google’s artificial intelligence program, Al- South Korean commenta-
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) tors could not hide their ex-
— A champion Go player phaGo, in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 13, 2016. Associated Press citement three hours into
scored his first win over a Sunday’s match, when it
Go-playing computer pro- cording to Lee. In Go, two tory under one’s control. A with a white stone on Sun- became clear that Lee
gram on Sunday after los- players take turns putting player with a black stone day. For the final match of would finally notch a win.
ing three straight times in black or white stones on plays first and a white-stone the series, scheduled for AlphaGo narrowed the
the ancient Chinese board a 19-by-19-line grid, with a player gets extra points to Tuesday, Lee has offered gap with Lee, but could
game, saying he finally goal of putting more terri- compensate. Lee played to play with a black stone, not overtake him, resign-
found weaknesses in the ing nearly five hours into
software. the game. Go fans whose
Lee Sedol’s victory over pride had been crushed
AlphaGo is a reminder by Lee’s earlier defeats
that Google’s Go-playing cheered the result. Prior to
program has room for im- the series, Go fans, many of
provement despite win- them in Asia, believed that
ning the first three matches the game would prove too
in the best-of-five series complex for the machine
and the $1 million prize, to master.Because there
which will be donated to are near-infinite board po-
charity. The program — the sitions in Go and top play-
first computer system to ers rely heavily on intuition,
defeat a top Go player — the popular Asian board
was developed by Google game has remained the
DeepMind two years ago. holy grail for the artificial
“This one win is so valuable intelligence community for
and I will not trade this for about two decades, after
anything in the world,” Lee, chess was conquered by
one of the best Go play- computers.q
ers in the world, said with
a smile after entering the Google is hitting the road _ literally _ for user feedback
post-match news confer-
ence at a Seoul hotel to MICHAEL LIEDTKE Americans are using the In this Wednesday, March 9, 2016 photo, Google User Ex-
applause from journalists. AP Technology Writer company’s multitude of perience Researcher John Webb, background, Dawn Her-
Lee had said earlier in the SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — digital offerings. man, left, Henry Liang, center, and Victoria Sosik pose for
series, which began last Google is about to embark About 500 walk-up volun- a photo with Google’s User Experience van in New York.
week, that he was unable on an old-school search, teers will be invited to step
to beat AlphaGo because swapping its Internet algo- inside the van designed Associated Press
he could not find any rithm for a custom-built van to serve as a mini-version
weaknesses in the soft- that will cruise across the of Google’s Silicon Valley lab on wheels grew out of summon an Uber ride to a
ware’s strategy. U.S. to find out how people laboratories, where most Google’s recognition that fancy restaurant. “We are
But after Sunday’s match, use its online services and of the company’s user most people don’t live and trying to understand the
the 33-year-old South Ko- react to new features. The studies are conducted. think the same way as the whole end-to-end experi-
rean Go grandmaster, white van emblazoned Once inside, researchers population living in the San ence, which is why we are
who has won 18 interna- with Google’s colorful logo will watch, question and Francisco Bay Area, where trying to get out to more
tional championships, said and an invitation to “shape record how the volun- the company does most locations and see more
he found two weaknesses the future” of the world’s teers use apps and other of its user research. In this people so we can gather
in the artificial intelligence most powerful Internet services on their smart- geeky and affluent area, more context,” says Laura
program. company is scheduled to phones in sessions that will the day’s biggest worry Granka, a lead Google re-
Lee said that when he pull out Monday on a six- last 15 to 90 minutes. They sometimes boils down to searcher focusing on Inter-
made an unexpected week road trip. Google will receive gift cards and how long it will take to net search and maps.
move, AlphaGo respond- is using the van to help it Google t-shirts in return for
ed with a move as if the break out of its Silicon Val- their time. A few may even
program had a bug, indi- ley bubble. The van will get a glimpse at ideas that
cating that the machine make multiday stops in Google’s engineers are still
lacked the ability to deal seven states, stopping near refining before the com-
with surprises. colleges, libraries, parks pany decides whether to
AlphaGo also had more and some of Google’s own release them as products
difficulty when it played regional offices in hopes of to the general public.
with a black stone, ac- finding out how average The plan to build a research
