It was man versus machine at yesterday’s historic Go competition. In the end Google's computer program AlphaGo defeated its human opponent, South Korean Go champion Lee Sedol.
Go is an ancient Chinese board game. AlphaGo’s victory is a breakthrough for artificial intelligence. It proves that the program developed by Google DeepMind Technologies has mastered one of the world’s most complex games.
Commentators said the match was close. Both AlphaGo and Lee made mistakes.
Lee's loss was a shock to South Koreans and Go fans.
"I was very surprised because I did not think that I would lose the game. A mistake I made at the very beginning lasted until the very last," said Lee. He has won 18 Go world championships since becoming a professional player at 12 years old.
Lee called AlphaGo's strategy "excellent."
Hundreds of thousands of people watched the game on TV and YouTube. The remaining four more matches end next Tuesday.
AlphaGo's creators say that defeating a human champion shows computers can mimic intuition and tackle more complex tasks.
Imagine how smart the person who programmed AlphaGo must be. Then think about the intelligence of the God who made the programmer!
“O Lord, . . . you discern my thoughts from afar.” (Psalm 139:1-2)
