• last year
What happens when computers beat humans at a game?

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Transcript
00:00 What happens to a game when humans are no longer its best players?
00:05 The game would become interesting again.
00:08 That was the New York Times conclusion when chess became the domain of computers in 1997.
00:13 But we're not here to talk about ancient history.
00:16 We're here to talk about Go.
00:18 Go is a two-player game, much like chess, where players place pieces on a board.
00:24 It was thought to be one of the last games that humans could still beat computers at,
00:28 given the fact that I'm talking about it here, you can probably guess that's no longer the case.
00:33 And there's only one rule for Go.
00:45 After the four consecutive points was occupied, this stone is dead, and it will be taken away from the board.
00:54 These simple rules don't make it easy though.
00:57 There are so many scenarios in Go, like 10 to the power 81.
01:04 That's actually the amount of atoms in the universe,
01:06 and Go has so many combinations that even that number looks small in comparison.
01:10 As I remember, in 2017, AlphaGo was investigated by Google, and it beat the world's best players.
01:23 It's essentially impossible to solve Go like you'd solve tic-tac-toe.
01:27 So how do they do it?
01:29 AlphaGo can have self-learning.
01:31 He can play with himself millions of games per second.
01:35 That's the reason he can find out which move is the best.
01:39 Before AlphaGo, AI was not even close to the top professional players.
01:45 This one is the best move, and you can see the future scenario that he keeps running.
01:52 The AI was saying that white have 69.7% to win the game.
01:59 Let's see if white not playing here.
02:02 Now black has 53% to win the game.
02:06 There's a number of ways. Oh, looks like AlphaGo has resigned.
02:10 Wow.
02:11 We are all happy that human win one game.
02:16 Around 2020, those AI companies can set some challenge,
02:22 but the best player can only win them after they give them two stones.
02:28 If give away one soldier before start the game, so you can win them.
02:32 But if we are start with even, no.
02:36 Like I play game in the Asian game, I will review on the AI software.
02:45 It also can be show on phone.
02:48 So it is quite convenient that after we just finish the game,
02:53 I can just take my phone and just review my game.
02:57 You need nine stones to capture same.
03:01 You can capture nine points.
03:04 Maybe I would try here.
03:06 Oh, that is the best move.
03:08 Yeah, that is the best move.
03:13 It is cheaper if you're reviewing on the AI software.
03:17 Before it's like 800 per hour with those professional player.
03:23 But now it takes only 15 dollars per hour.
03:27 But sometimes they just, AI would just put it something here and say it is the best move.
03:35 For this case, it is real hard to estimate.
03:38 If you put it here, 5% decrease. Here, 10%, something like this.
03:43 But so many place you can place here that you have the same purpose.
03:48 Maybe one day you'll be able to understand why.
03:51 If I can understand, maybe I will become the best player.
03:56 But we cannot understand sometimes the AI move.
03:59 And for the development, if he can explain, that will be amazing.
04:06 The New York Times prediction did mostly come true.
04:09 Pro Chess Today makes use of strategies and tools that 90s grandmasters would never have dreamt of.
04:14 That's also mostly the case with Go.
04:17 I think with the AI, the distance between the professional player and the amateur player will be much closer.
04:25 For example, the professional player, they will play with professional player.
04:29 So they got a much better environment to improve their skill.
04:33 Now we all have AI, so the distance will be shortened.
04:37 But for chess, like with Go, AI tools have meant that cheaters are now in the midst.
04:42 It's a scandal rocking the chess world.
04:45 I feel more comfortable when I play face to face because you never know the opponents online.
04:52 If they use AI, I cannot beat them.
04:54 Cheating did not happen in professional match, but it happened in some amateur game in the early stage.
05:01 And for now, for example, like the Asian game, you need to lock your cell phone into the locker before you enter the place.
05:10 Sometimes if one player was playing too good in the professional game,
05:16 although we know that he cannot cheat because there are no cell phones can be bring,
05:21 but we will say, oh, you just play like AI.
05:24 That's the end of our match together for this week's Tech Asia.
05:29 I'm not much of a Go player myself, but I'm pretty sure the best move would be to subscribe to our channel.
05:34 That will allow you to see next week's episode, which will be about the future of virtual reality in Asia.
05:38 If you just can't wait that long, well, I suppose you could check out last week's episode,
05:42 which was about the use of AI in medical imaging.
05:44 Until then, I suppose, it's the checkmates.
05:47 I know, it's not Go. Take care.
05:49 (upbeat music)
05:51 (upbeat music)

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