Lee Sedol (right) and Aja Huang (Alphago's "human arm") at the scene of the man-machine battle
March 9, 2021, marks the 5th anniversary of Alphago and Lee Sedol's "Man-Machine War". Five years ago, on March 9, 2016, and for the entire week since, the eyes of the world have been on Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, and people have been touched by the impact of technology. Now that 5 years have passed, Alphago has long since withdrawn from the Go world and Lee Sedol has retired, but the further development of artificial intelligence (AI) research has brought a new wave to the Go community. The change in representativeness can be summarized in the following four aspects:
1. Significantly change the value evaluation of the landing point
The biggest impact of the Go artificial intelligence represented by Alphago on the Go community is the stereotype revolution. All the "hands" were put back on the bench, and a considerable number of stereotypes were abandoned or modified. Unknown parts of the past Go world, especially the initial layout, are being mysteriously unveiled. The layout of the previous taboos such as "point three three" has been re-evaluated by AI and has become a "fixed form".
A series of new theories of AI have greatly improved the overall level of the Go community in the past 5 years. Cui Guibing Jiudan said: "Since Go entered the AI era, the chess strength of professional chess players has generally increased by about one first, at least half ahead." This is the result of the artificial intelligence training of Go that can make the top human players 2 sons.
2. The averaging of the upper limit and the "democratization" of the world of victory and defeat
In the past, most chess players believed that at a certain level, they could no longer improve, so they gave up the game. But as artificial intelligence, which eliminates all kinds of doubts one by one, becomes a "tutor", the upper limit of chess players' strength is being "averaged", and victory and defeat have become "democratized". As the desire to win among the lower-ranked players is reactivated, the outcome of any match is difficult to predict.
South Korea's top two, Shin Jin-hyun and Park Young-hwan, known as the "unsinkable aircraft carrier," have recently lost to both Park Jin-jin (27th) and Baek Chan-hyun (56th), which is not unrelated to this trend. The sudden emergence of unknown chess players into rising stars is becoming the norm. After Lee Sedol, Ke Jie, who played against Alphago, also recently said: "Alphago has made great contributions to the development of Go." "AI fit" has now become a measure of a chess player's level.
3. Changes in the environment of tv broadcasts and Go dojos
The commentators of TV Go, who do not know when to start, boldly said in the program: "AI wants to play like this." This is a phenomenon that did not occur in the early days of AI.
It has now become an era when the "winning rate map" of AI can be grasped and judged by all complex situations. In this case, the status of professional chess players who used to be like the sky has dropped significantly.
The situation in teaching institutions such as the Go dojo has also changed a lot. If in the past, professional chess players were teachers who instilled education for students, then now professional chess players have become assistant teachers who help students come to the final conclusion after AI review. With the solid AI teaching in colleges and universities deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the pace of progress of students has become faster.
4. Fight against cheating
Where there is light, there is a shadow. The use of cutting-edge devices to cheat with AI often occurs and becomes a headache. The impact of the epidemic has made online tournaments popular, fueling the environment of AI cheating, and even the scandal of cheating by professional chess players. Today, contestants must go through a metal detector before the race and hand over electronic items such as mobile phones and watches before they can enter the race.
It is expected that in the future, the Go community will continue to form a new marriage with AI more closely. Dr. Lee Joo Young, founder of the Korean Go AI "Little Love", looked forward to saying: "In the future, the number of competitions in which humans and AI work together in various ways and rules will increase." This means that AI may not be able to easily cut off the relationship with its own "birth channel" - Go.
(Saury compiled from a column by Chosun Ilbo reporter Lee Hong-yeol)