AlphaGo ignites AI passion among local enthusiasts

The world's top Go player Lee Sedol attends a news conference after the third match of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match against Google's artificial intelligence program AlphaGo in Seoul, South Korea, March 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

When AlphaGo defeated Lee Se-dol, one of the world's top Go players, 4:1 on Tuesday, China's artificial intelligence community decided it was time to take AI to the people. The people, in this case China's online community, have plenty of suggestions.

Imagine using the AI technology to invent a poker machine complete with a computer vision gear allowing it to recognize human motions and gestures. Contests would be more humane rather than a cold-hearted game of computing prowess, a Web user said after watching the competition.

Others want to see Google's DeepMind team come up with AlphaMahjong to take on China's most popular four-handed pastime which features slippery concepts like teamwork and cooperation

"The response of these fans are a good reminder that research must meet a realistic demand. I think many people want to take on AI machines as their favorite pastimes via their phones or laptops," said Xu Li, CEO of SenseTime, a Chinese AI company which specializes in computer vision.

That kind of interaction is currently restrained by the hardware. Such superior AI technology is still impossible to run on home computers or the smartest of phones, but that is sure to change.

By challenging one of the world's top Go players, AlphaGo has propelled itself to the high ground of AI research and development. AI may still be out of reach for most of us, but now it is at least in sight.

The rules of Go are incredibly simple, which leads to very complex strategic possibilities. In preparation for the match, AlphaGo was said to have played more than 30 million matches against itself and invented its own strategy through the mass of data generated. Every game it plays adds to its experience and makes it better.

"Without challenging the best players in the world, AI could never develop so quickly, but we must remember that technology is not to build a castle in the clouds but to improve people's lives. That's the direction AI scientists should be working in," said Xu.

Martin Hudecek from the Czech Republic, who has worked in the AI industry in China for three years is impressed by improvements he has seen in that time.