Google's AlphaGo AI smashes top professional at ancient game of Go

First Chess, now Go. What next? Buckaroo? Ker-Plunk?

Google's AlphaGo artificial intelligence computer program has claimed its top human scalp at the ancient game of Go by beating challenger Lee Sedol in the first of five bouts. It follows a win in October last year for AlphaGo against Fan Hui, a lower ranked player, which was only publicised in January.

While IBM's DeepThought beat a human at chess back in 1997, the wider range of branching moves makes Go a harder proposition for AI to master.

Sedol had initially been confident of wiping the floor with his silicon challenger, although he seemed more apprehensive as the date approached.

It was a close match, according to those who tuned-in to the live webcast, and many were surprised by the result, including Sedol himself.

"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," he said, according to a report in The Guardian. Sedol conceded that AlphaGo played a very good game tactically.

The latest four-hour contest was streamed on YouTube (see below) although it was, by all accounts a bit dull unless you're really into Go.

AlphaGo may, perhaps, have been motivated by money. The winner will scoop a $1m prize. It's not known whether AlphaGo has been told that if it wins, the pot will be donated to charity.

DeepMind, the unit of Google that developed AlphaGo, is based in London.

Demis Hassabis, the founder and CEO of DeepMind, was full of praise for Sedol before the start of the match but very pleased with the win for artificial intelligence.

Google has provided a short write-up of its victory, allowing some praise for the human. "AlphaGo takes the first game against Lee Sedol. They were neck-and-neck for its entirety in a game filled with complex fighting," said the firm in a Google Asia Pacific blog post.

"Lee Sedol made very aggressive moves but AlphaGo did not back down from the fight. AlphaGo took almost all of its time compared to Lee Sedol who had almost 30 minutes left on the clock."

They may beat us at Chess and now Go, but the machines still have some way to go before they can challenge humans at football.