Chinese Go player Ke Jie, the world's top-ranked player, starts Tuesday a series of games against an upgraded version of Google's AlphaGo AI as part of a five-day Go event in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang Province.
The high-profile three-game match held as part of The Future of Go summit will either further prove that AlphaGo is virtually unbeatable in the ancient board game or show that humans still have a fighting chance.
Ke Jie plays black in the first game, the result of which is expected Tuesday afternoon. The live broadcast of the game on a big screen at the venue shows Ke's expressive face as he contemplates his moves against the Go-playing program.
"I will use all my passion to take part in the final duel with it [AlphaGo], however strong the opponent I'm facing, I will never fall back!" 19-year-old Ke, a native of Lishui, Zhejiang, wrote on his Sina Weibo account on the eve of the game. However the young Go grandmaster also said that he believes the future belongs to AI.
Man-versus-machine Go games will take place on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with both Ke and AlphaGo having three hours and five 60-second overtime periods in each of the three games. The winning side will be awarded $1.5 million while the loser will take home $300,000.
The AI won a 4-1 victory against star South Korean player Lee Se-dol in Seoul in March 2016.
It doesn't matter whether AlphaGo wins or loses, Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, the developer behind the AI, said on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the summit.
This isn't about men competing against machines, but men using them as tools to explore, he noted.
