DeepMind Technologies’ AlphaGo was the brains behind the go player that won 60 consecutive games in one week in online battles against the world’s top-ranked players, Taiwanese developer Aja Huang (黃士傑) of the Google unit confirmed on Wednesday.
Using the pseudonym “Master,” AlphaGo played its first online game on Dec. 29 and defeated some of the world’s top players, including China’s Ke Jie (柯潔) — ranked the world’s No. 1 in the Whole History Rating system — Nie Weiping (聶衛平) and Chen Yaoye (陳耀燁); Japan’s Yuta Iyama; and South Korea’s Park Junghwan and Cho Hanseung.
Before DeepMind’s revelation, Master’s unconventional strategy, fast reaction and seemingly improbable winning streak had led to speculation that the player was not human.
Photo: AP
Yu Bin (俞斌), head coach of China’s national go team, told Xinhua news agency that no human player could make a move almost every five seconds.
“It is highly possible that it is the latest version of an AI [artificial intelligence] player,” he was quoted as saying.
After claiming its 59th win on Wednesday, Master wrote a message on the platform that read: “I am AlphaGo’s Dr Huang.”
“We’ve been hard at work improving AlphaGo, and over the past few days we’ve played some unofficial online games at fast time controls with our new prototype version, to check that it’s working as well as we hoped. We thank everyone who played our accounts Magister (P) and Master (P) on the Tygem and FoxGo servers,” DeepMind cofounder and chief executive Demis Hassabis tweeted on Wednesday.
Huang, a professor of computer science at National Taiwan Normal University, was in 2012 employed by the London-based company that was later acquired by Google, and played a key role in AlphaGo’s development team.
According to the Chinese online media outlet The Observer, Master initially registered as a South Korean go player, in an apparent homage to the fact that AlphaGo was certified by the South Korean national go academy as a 9th dan player in January last year after defeating Lee Sedol, a South Korean player with a 9th dan rank, in four games.
Chou Chun-hsun (周俊勳), a professional and the first Taiwanese to play against Master, said he was routed in little more than 40 minutes and had to concede the game.
“Master’s strategy defied conventional rules of playing the game, and I knew then that what made those moves was not human. Though the game was a crushing loss, I had a lot of fun losing and I learned some very interesting things from it. I look forward to playing it again,” he added.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS