Google has disclosed that its AlphaGo Zero artificial intelligence program has triumphed at chess against world-leading specialist software within hours of teaching itself the game from scratch.
Google’s DeepMind division says that it played 100 games against Stockfish 8, and won or drew all of them.
Though the research has yet to be peer reviewed, experts have already suggested that the achievement will strengthen Google’s position in a competitive sector.
The London-based team of the firm is currently trying to develop a system that can beat humans at the space strategy game Starcraft, which is seen as being an even more complex challenge.
Google is not commenting on the research until it is published in a journal.
AlphaGo Zero’s latest achievements do not rest on chess alone. As per he reports it was also triumphant in the Japanese board game Shogi versus a leading artificial intelligence program named Elmo, after two hours of self-training.
Just after eight hours of self-training it was also able to beat the previous version of itself at Go – winning 60 games and losing 40.
The University of Princeton’s AI expert Prof Joanna Bryson added that people should be cautious about buying too deeply into the Google’s hype. But she added that its knack for good publicity had put it in a strong position against challengers.
She asserted, “It’s not only about hiring the best programmers,” adding, “It’s also very political, as it helps makes Google as strong as possible when negotiating with governments and regulators looking at the AI sector.”
