Google AlphaGo close games: Lee Sedol beaten 4-1

The challenge man computer which has been much discussed in recent days came to an end with a result that demonstrates the significant progress made by artificial intelligence software. AlphaGo, Google DeepMind program designed to tackle games of Go, an ancient Chinese game, and overall, finished with an overwhelming 4 to 1 the sequence of five meetings that he saw as challenger Lee Sedol, Go professional player of ninth dan, considered one of the strongest in the world. Sedol managed to snatch only a victory to AlphaGo.

The first victory of AlphaGo against Sedol, which took place last week, was considered a very important milestone for the field of artificial intelligence, it is an unprecedented event, taking into account the ranking of the human player. The victory achieved by conquering the other three match amplifies the milestone.

The path to win the last match was not without obstacles for AlphaGo, as confirmed by Demis Hassabis, founder DeepMind (the company controlled by Google that developed the software). The game, in fact, opened with an error on the part of your computer called the next comeback. The time world champion Go Lee Sedol succumbs with the attestation of his undisputed skills: "Lee Sedol was amazing," admits Hassabis.

As agreed earlier, the machine learning algorithms and system similar to the human neural networks used by AlphaGo have managed to cut a milestone that experts have deemed extremely difficult, because of the nature of the game. The amount of moves and combinations that can fulfill in the Go game is in the first place very superior to that present in the game of chess.

To win a Go, therefore, you can not resort only to brute force by analyzing all possible combinations - activities in which they excel and computers that do not require the application of artificial intelligence techniques - it is necessary that the computer is able to develop its own approach and its own strategy by analyzing a large database of professional players moves. The prize of one million dollars that Seedol failed to grab a winning challenge destined to go down in history will be donated to charity by Google.