AlphaGo
Go is considered the most challenging board game ever invented by mankind. It was invented in China about 3000 years ago and remains one of the most popular products today. While at first glance it may seem like a deceptively simple version of chess, the game requires incredible focus, ingenuity, strategy and intuition. The game variants are endless. Its challenge is more than a game in many circles; some consider it a great art, a decisively human endeavor. As one of the most intellectually challenging games in the world, Go is also an important goal in the world of artificial intelligence. AlphaGo is an exciting feature-length documentary chronicling the first ever match between a human Go champion and an artificial intelligence opponent.
The computer program known as AlphaGo was developed by Deep Mind Technologies. Their efforts to master games through artificial intelligence are not just for fun and games; they hope they can apply the same self-learning techniques to solve larger problems and challenges that confuse and plague humans. But to prove their capabilities, they must first put their programs to the ultimate test.
Enter Lee Sedol, a Korean Go champion of unrivaled skill. The game, regarded as “the ultimate conflict between man and machine”, sparked a global media frenzy. Lee Sedol is a creative and intuitive player. He threw himself into the game with confidence, while the program’s designers expressed uncertainty about the outcome. The film documents the journey to that outcome with all the gripping suspense of a Rocky film.
Before the title fight, the film traces the origins of the game of Go and its enduring influence around the world to this day, and how it defines the lives and philosophies of its players. We also follow the efforts of programmers and designers to create a more efficient and competitive form of artificial intelligence.
By the end of this riveting documentary, AlphaGo asks deeper questions about our relationship with these technologies, how they challenge ourselves to do more or challenge the limitations of our own species. What can we learn from them and vice versa?
Director Greg Koss
