Google programmers have another reason to be proud of himself. The computer with the program they developed Alphago literally defeated the current European champion in the game in Go —Fan Huya with a score of 5: 0.
Until recently, to teach a computer to play this ancient game was considered something almost unattainable, akin to the search for St. Grail. However, in the 90s, programmers were seriously engaged in the development of programs for classic board games, including chess and backgammon. The first significant success was the victory of the IBM Deep Blue computer over Harry Kasparov in 1997.
Almost 20 years have passed before artificial intelligence “reached out” to the game in the th, in which experts are an important role is assigned by intuitions. According to Demis Hassabis, a researcher of the program of the program —Google DeepMind, one of the key features of Alphago is the ability to study in the process of playing with oneself.
It is believed that GO originated in China from 2 to 4 thousand years ago and is still very popular in the countries of East Asia. By the number of possible game options, it exceeds chess by about 10 times.
Researchers argue that the development of Alphago’s program could be new Google applications, as well as programs in the field of medicine.