Taiwan’s Aja Huang (黃士傑) is one of the key developers behind AlphaGo, the artificial intelligence (AI) program developed by Google’s DeepMind unit that on Thursday secured a second win against go world champion Lee Sedol in Seoul.
Huang, who obtained sixth-dan ranking as an amateur go player in 2007, sat opposite Lee during the first two matches, placing the counters on behalf of AlphaGo.
Professor Lin Shun-hsi (林順喜) at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) said Huang completed his doctorate in computer engineering inside five years, but extended the course by two years to develop software known as “Erica.”
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University professor Lin Shun-hsi
Huang chose go as his primary subject the moment he enrolled in the program, Lin said, adding that his initial programs lost against low-level go players.
The culmination of nearly a decade of effort was the software Erica, which defeated the then-champion program “Zen” and won a gold at the Computer Olympiad.
Huang was also the founding member of the go club at NTNU, Lin said.
Huang was in constant contact with many first-rate programmers abroad and he used that to his advantage, Lin said, adding that Huang could often be found making video calls to the experts to discuss crucial programming techniques if he was having problems.
Huang obtained a job as a research assistant in Canada and went on to work at English company DeepMind in 2012, Lin said, adding that Huang and David Silver were the head programmers at the company.
Lin said he is happy that Huang never gave up his explorations of AI programming for the game go.
“Huang is living proof that NTNU should not just be known as a university that produces educators,” Lin said.
The next match between Lee and AlphaGo is scheduled for today, with a total of five matches to be played by Tuesday next week. The winner is to receive a prize of US$1 million (NT$32,95 million).
Lee, a South Korean who holds 18 world titles, said he was “speechless” after losing a match for a second consecutive day on Thursday.
Lee said AlphaGo played a near-perfect game on Thursday and admitted that he did not feel he was leading at any point during the game.
AlphaGo generated widespread attention when an article published in the journal Nature explained how DeepMind had succeeded in producing an AI program that had mastered go and had achieved a 99.8 percent success rate against other AI programs.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS