SILICON VALLEY Google has developed a computer program capable of beating professional go players, opening the door to new applications -- and new ethical concerns -- as artificial intelligence draws closer to matching human thinking.
The U.S. tech giant presented its results in the Jan. 27 issue of Nature. Though a computer managed to topple the world chess champion in 1997 and defeat the top women's shogi (Japanese chess) player in 2010, Google's AlphaGo program is the first to triumph over professional go players under official rules.
