NUMBER-ONE GO PLAYER, KE JIE, TRIES NEW MOVES IN A CLOSE GAME WITH ALPHAGO, IN FIRST OF THREE-GAME MATCH

DeepMind reveals Go-playing AI now runs on a single tensor processing unit machine on Google Cloud

Wuzhen, China (May 23, 2017) — In the first game of the weeklong Future of Go Summit, DeepMind’s Go-playing artificial intelligence, AlphaGo, defeated the world’s number-one player Ke Jie by a half-point. The game, sponsored by Google and co-hosted by the China Go Association and the Zhejiang Provincial Government, is one of five scheduled, three of which feature Ke Jie playing against AlphaGo.

The 19 year-old Ke Jie currently ranks as the world number-one Go player. He first studied the game at the age of five, becoming a professional player at the age of 10. The four-time international title winner opened the game with a 3-3 corner enclosure, introduced to opening theory by the legendary players Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru in the 1930s. Although the move was highly popular for decades, it fell out of favor in contemporary Go. However, following AlphaGo’s adoption of the move in a series of games in January, Ke Jie and other players have revived it in recent games. After AlphaGo responded by securing its own corner with its favored two-space high extension, Ke Jie leapt into the upper-left corner with a 3-3 invasion.

DeepMind, founded in 2010 by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg, and Mustafa Suleyman, revealed today that AlphaGo now runs in the cloud on a single tensor processing unit (TPU) machine, using the same version of the chip announced at Google’s developer conference I/O last week. TPU machines are processing units built specifically from the ground-up for machine learning. The current version uses 10-times less computing power compared to the AlphaGo match against Korean Go champion Lee Sedol in March 2016. The London-based company was acquired by Google in 2014 and is now part of the Alphabet group. DeepMind’s mission is to solve intelligence and use it to make the world a better place.

After the game, Ke Jie said, “Ahead of today, I studied and prepared quite a lot. At the very beginning, I made two fierce, targeted 3-3 moves. I copied some moves that AlphaGo liked to use in past games. AlphaGo also made some unexpected moves as well. I was deeply impressed. Also, there was a cut that quite shocked me, because it was a move that would never happen in a human-to-human Go match. But, afterwards I analyzed the move and I found that it was very good. It is one move with two or even more purposes. We call it one stone, two birds. I am quite convinced by this loss that AlphaGo is really strong. From AlphaGo there are lots of things that are worthwhile learning and exploring. The influence of AlphaGo has been widespread. We should explore our minds and expand our thinking.”

In the post-match press conference, Demis Hassabis said, “Huge respect to Ke Jie for an amazing, great game. It was so close, and an exciting game for everyone. Huge respect to Ke Jie for pushing AlphaGo to its limits! Go is an amazing subject with almost limitless possibilities. I see AlphaGo as a tool for Go players and the Go community to explore the truth of Go, and to find out more. I hope that the Go players have enjoyed the last year, and I hope that it's contributed to our understanding of this amazing game.”

China is home to the ancient game, where it was first played nearly 3,000 years ago. “Since the birth of AlphaGo, the world of Go has become more colorful. AlphaGo has opened up a brand-new perspective for us, and the innovative style of AlphaGo is exactly the nature of Go,” said professional Go player and commentator Xu Ying.

The game unfolded quickly after Ke Jie placed his first stone on the board. “As happens with top human games, from the beginning it quickly developed into an opening position that we haven’t seen before. Part of it was that Ke Jie was playing pretty original moves, but of course AlphaGo is also a very unusual and strong player,” said Michael Redmond, an English language commentator and 9-dan player.

Redmond elaborated on how AlphaGo’s playing style encourages human players to push creative boundaries and reinvent old habits. “Ke Jie started with moves that he had learned from the Master series of games earlier this year — adding those new moves to his repertoire,” he said. Ke Jie will see more opportunities to win against AlphaGo in the coming week when he plays two more 1:1 games on Thursday and Saturday.

“Compared to last year’s AlphaGo match against Lee Sedol, this year’s AlphaGo seems to have been played in a much more stable way,” said Kim Sung Yong, a Korean language commentator and professional 9-dan player. Kim was also the official commentator of the AlphaGo match in Korea. He added, “AlphaGo used to take time even before easy moves, but this year, it’s using its time more freely and efficiently.”

“This week is not just significant for Go and for A.I., but for everyone interested in the major scientific challenges of our time”

- Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind

"Since the birth of AlphaGo, the world of Go has been becoming more colourful. AlphaGo has opened up a brand new view for us, and the innovative style of AlphaGo is exactly the nature of Go."

- Xu Ying, Women's Professional Go World Champion

"We're going on a voyage of discovery, not just for AlphaGo and China, but for A.I. too."

- Scott Beaumont, VP of Google China

“Sometimes people think of these games as man versus machine. I disagree. This isn’t about man competing with machines, but rather using them to explore and discover new knowledge together.”

- Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind

"As I said last year, regardless of the outcome of the match, humanity wins."

- Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Alphabet

“We think of AlphaGo like the Hubble telescope: a tool that we and others can use to examine the unknown universe of the game. If AlphaGo is a telescope, then Ke Jie is the world’s best astronomer - and we can’t wait to see what he discovers with AlphaGo.”

- Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind

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