Google DeepMind's Artificial Intelligence AlphaGo Beats Go Champion Lee Sedol

Machine Has Overtaken Man And It's Just The Beginning

The case for artificial intelligence overtaking the human race took a historic turn last night as Google's AI triumphed over a world champion at an incredibly complex board game.

The match, the first of five, took place between the company's computer program, AlphaGo and world champion Lee Sedol.

Tweeting about the historic moment, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, said the match was a "huge milestone in AI."

The battle between machine and man ended after three and a half hours, with just over 28 minutes left on the clock, the Verge reports.

South Korean professional Go player Lee Se-Dol (R) puts the first stone against Google's artificial intelligence program, AlphaGo.

Both parties will compete for a grand prize of $1m (£700,000) over the next four matches.

This is not the first time AI has beaten the human race. In October 2015, AlphaGo defeated the European Champion of the board game.

Go is an ancient Chinese game that has been compared to chess in the past.

However, Go players can make around 200 moves while chess competitors have around 20 different plays at there disposal.

Due to the vast number of options available, experts have said the Chinese game requires more intuition.

"Playing against a machine is very different from an actual human opponent," Mr Lee told the BBC.

"Normally, you can sense your opponent's breathing, their energy. And lots of times you make decisions which are dependent on the physical reactions of the person you're playing against.

"With a machine, you can't do that."

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