One of the scariest and most exciting fields related to technology is AI and the progress that is being made is both impressive and terrifying. In this article I will discuss the recent gains made in AI in regard to strategic dominance.
In March 2016, Alphabet’s DeepMind research group set a milestone in artificial intelligence when its AlphaGo program defeated professional Go player Lee Sedol, then fifth-ranked in the world, at the complex board game Go.
It wasn't too long ago that AlphaGo beat the pro Go player Lee Sedol but two years is like a century when referring to R&D. Things have progressed a long way since then as you can already imagine.
Now China’s Tencent is claiming a milestone of its own in Go—and China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence. Last week, the company’s Fine Art program defeated China’s top professional Ke Jie, despite giving him a significant head start. Ke recently slipped to number two in the world, after holding the top spot for three years.
So lets review this here... Tencent's Fine Art program defeated a pro Go player named Ke Jie? He isn't just a pro player, he is the second best player in the world!
This is really making news not because Tencent beat a professional Go player but rather Fine Art’s victory put the world on notice because this situation illustrates the gulf that has opened between human and machine players of the complex boardgame.
More importantly this situation proves that the gulf—between AI capabilities in the US and China is getting smaller. In a national strategy for AI released last summer, China aimed to reach a drawing level with America by 2020 with plans to actually pull ahead by 2030.
Tencent, whose offerings span from messaging to payments and music, was named to a “national team” for AI by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology in November, alongside four other tech giants. Greg Allen, an adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, says the company’s Go program shows the US should take China’s technological ambitions seriously. “Fine Art is yet more proof of the stunning progress China has made in AI technology,” he says.
I've missed a lot of opportunities when it comes to making investments. I missed out on Google, Amazon, Netflix a lot of the biggest names and stocks on the market these days. In terms of betting on the future there aren't many applications more promising than that of AI but I'll admit I have moral conflicts about supporting this technology because I also feel it could open the door to pandora's box and a dystopian world that could spell the extinction of the human race. Sorry to be so pessimistic but it is true!
What do you guys think about this new development? Will China be able to reach their goal of drawing with the US in regard to AI technology and pulling ahead by the 2030s?
Source:
Tencent Software Beats Go Champ, Showing China's AI Gains - Wired
Image Source:
Wired