RÉMI COULOM SPENT the last decade building software that can play the ancient game of Go better than practically any other machine on earth. He calls his creation Crazy Stone. Early last year, at the climax of a tournament in Tokyo, it challenged the Go grandmaster Norimoto Yoda, one of the world’s top human players, and it performed remarkably well. In what’s known as the Electric Sage Battle, Crazy Stone beat the grandmaster. But the win came with a caveat.
Over the last 20 years, machines have topped the best humans at so many games of intellectual skill, we now assume computers can beat us at just about anything. But Go—the Eastern version of chess in which two players compete with polished stones on 19-by-19-line grid—remains the exception. Yes, Crazy Stone beat Yoda. But it started with a four-stone advantage. That was the only way to ensure a fair fight.
The jobs of the future that machines won’t be able to take from us? Those that require great intuition.
And I love that the Go master is Yoda. Of course he is.
from Stowe Boyd http://stoweboyd.com/post/134790702312
