When Deep Blue, the chess-playing expert system, won the first game against the reigning world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, most Weiqi players wouldn’t believe AI could beat this more complex and abstract game that AI players spent 18 years to reach the level of amateur 5-dan player in Go.

“When AI players emerged in the Weiqi world, I thought it would take 10-20 years to defeat real professional players,” Ke said in the Hong Kong Baptist University Distinguished Lecture Series, “But now the thought looks so naive.”

Besides, AI Go players and programs are progressing to be stronger and more invincible, who also become teachers for Go players and enrich the techniques of Weiqi.

Ke said that AI also promotes the development of Go, “nowadays, everyone can learn the most advanced Weiqi techniques via AI.”

The emergence of various AI systems such as conversational AI system chatGPT shows that there will be more industries that will be affected by AI, according to Ke.