How Google’s AI Beat A Human At ‘Go’ A Decade Earlier Than Expected

Last week, news broke that the holy grail of game-playing AI—the ancient and complex Chinese game Go—was cracked by AI system AlphaGo.

AlphaGo was created by Google’s DeepMind, a UK group led by David Silver and Demis Hassabis. Last October the group invited three-time European Go champion Fan Hui to their office in London. Behind closed doors, AlphaGo defeated Hui 5 games to 0—the first time a computer program has beaten a professional Go player.