Tech News: Go Games Send Waves of Interest on Artificial Intelligence in South Korea
Following the defeat of 9-dan world champion Lee Sedol to Google DeepMind's AlphaGo AI (artificial intelligence) program, interest on Go games has massively increased in South Korea.
Multiple outlets report that there is a huge wave of interest among students and parents in Korea after the now famous-than-ever program defeated their champion. More importantly, the interest has spread not only in Korea but also around the world.
According to The Korean Herald, the curiosity of people in South Korea has become more evident than ever and it is believed that the popular battle between the DeepMind's computer and Lee sparked the interest.
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Kim Sang Soon, a Go teacher from southern Seoul said, "There are indeed many more calls and visits from children, especially preschool girls. I'm pretty sure that the AlphaGo match brought back the popularity of Go."
Kim has been teaching Go for the past three decades and for him, the curiosity among both students and their parents is "a good sign" not only for Seoul's reputation given by Lee but also for the general's further awareness about the ancient chess game.
It seems preschoolers aren't the only people interested in learning about the game as the outlet reports that the number of participants at the Korea Baduk Association's Go competition has increased to 20 students. In a month, about 300 students take part in the competition regularly and the double-digit increase in just one day further proves Lee and the AlphaGo's ability to attract more people.
Bookstores are probably the most benefitting facilities around since a lot of people have been ordering and buying Go books recently. There are five top Go books in the market and four were penned by the amazing Lee, who is known worldwide for being an 18-time champion.
As Lee's country continues to raise sparks of interest around the world through his performance against the AI program, the human Go champion is taking his defeat positively. He told The Associated Press after the fifth game that he doesn't consider the AlphaGo having a higher level of intelligence than him.
"I don't necessarily think AlphaGo is superior to me. I believe that there is more a human being could do to play against artificial intelligence," he said.
The outlets notes that AlphaGo evidently had the upper hand in a number of aspects such as emotional and physical stress. Obviously, Lee was vulnerable to his emotions all throughout the game and he might have started to feel fatigue as the game pressed on. The final game itself lasted for almost five hours.
AlphaGo defeated Lee at 4-1, wrapping up the best-of-five game on Tuesday.
