South Korean pro Go player Lee Se-dol (R) puts his first stone against Google's AI AlphaGo during the Google DeepMind Challenge Match in Seoul, South Korea, on March 10, 2016. (Photo : Getty Images)
China’s Go grandmaster Ke Jie has labeled AlphaGo as not at his level and declared that he could take on Google’s computer program despite its third straight win against South Korean prodigy Lee Se-dol on Saturday.
Ke told Xinhua on Thursday that, although he underestimated AlphaGo's capability before the first match, he is confident that he would emerge as the victor should he have been pitted against the program.
"I thought Lee Se-dol can win in a 5-0 whitewash," said Ke, who holds a record of eight wins and two losses against Lee.
"Facing AlphaGo, I do not feel the same strong instinct of victory when I play a human player, but I still believe I have the advantage against it," Ke added. "It's 60 percent in favor of me."
Despite his confidence, Ke expressed his interest in facing an AI opponent.
"Like the Chinese proverb goes, it's better to see once than hear dozens of times and it's better to have a try yourself than you see how others play dozens of times."
AlphaGo secured a 3-0 win against 18-time world champion Lee in a five-game match in Seoul, leaving Lee, the spectators, and even AlphaGo's developers awestruck.
"To be honest we are a bit stunned and speechless," said Demis Hassabis, founder and CEO of Google's DeepMind unit that developed the AlphaGo program. "AlphaGo can compute tens of thousand positions a second, but it's amazing that Lee Se-dol is able to compete with that and push AlphaGo to the limit."
"According to the pace of AI's progress, it won't be long for AlphaGo to beat all human players, it may happen a few years later, even a few months later," Ke said.
Ke, who has acquired Go's highest level of ninth dan and the first player to win two major international titles since Lee in 2011, is widely seen as AlphaGo's next opponent should the AI win the best-of-five series with Lee.
AlphaGo's first victory is seen as a watershed moment for artificial intelligence, and the program went on to secure two more wins on Thursday and Saturday. The fourth and fifth matches will take place on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
