AlphaGo beat Lee Sedol (R) 4-1 in March 2016. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – It’s better late than never. Korea has finally taken its first step towards developing its own version of AlphaGo, a Google DeepMind AI program that shocked the global Go community last year by beating Lee Sedol, a South Korean professional Go player.
The Korea Baduk Association hosted its first meeting Wednesday dedicated to the development of the AI program, after announcing in December that it would establish a task force for the project. The KBA will be supplying the official Go match data necessary to develop the coming AI program.
The members of the task force include Song Pil-ho, vice president of the KBA; Lee Ui-bum, director of the KBA; Seoul National University professor Moon Byung-ro; Ajou University professor Kam Dong-gun; Shin Seung-hyun, an SG Group auditor; KBA secretary-general Yoo Chang-hyuk; and Yang Gun, the head of the South Korean Professional Go Players’ Association.
The development progress is rather late for South Korea.
Following Google’s triumph against Lee last March, Japan introduced DeepZenGo, while China’s Tencent has developed Xian Tian. The machines have made fast progress since, leveling their skills with professional human players, and leaving Korea behind with primitive Go programs.
Officials said that the task force will hold 12 meetings over the next six months, discussing the necessary resources and future applications for the program. The next meeting is scheduled for February 8.
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
