A showdown will take place next week in Seoul. Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo will take on top Go player Lee Se-dol for a $1 million prize.

Amid mixed outlook for the outcome, the five-day match has already become a global media sensation.

Go, called “baduk” in Korea, is considered a more complicated game than chess because of its large choice of 200 moves compared to about 20 moves in chess. 

Experts say Go is a combination of analysis, creativity and intuition. Many of the top human players depend on instinct rather than calculation.

Due to the complexity of the game, experts have predicted it could take another 10 years for AI to beat humans at Go.

But this was before AlphaGo’s 5-0 victory against French champion Fan Hui in October last year.

Google acquired AlphaGo’s developer DeepMind in 2014.

Few things have been revealed about the technology behind AlphaGo, except records of its five matches with Fan Hui.

“If I had not been informed, I would have not realized I was playing with a computer,” said the only professional Go player to have played with AlphaGo so far, in a recent interview. “It was like playing with an opponent who never appeared disturbed.”

While AlphaGo continues evolving at a relentless speed, its planned Seoul match with a world champion is expected to be a good measure to gauge how far AI technology has developed and how it will develop in the future.

“The development speed of AI, which learns without rest or sleep, has been faster than the expectations of scholars. After all, time is on AlphaGo’s side,” said Lee Sung-hwan, brain and cognitive engineering professor at Korea University.

Lee Se-dol, the highest ninth dan with 18 international titles, has not hid his confidence towards the upcoming match.

“I do feel pressure, a pressure that I should not lose even one game,” he said. “Someday computers may surpass humans but that is not now.”

But even if AlphaGo wins the game, there is no need for the human race to feel disheartened, said Kim Jin-ho, professor of Seoul School of Integrated Sciences and Technologies, who has predicted that AlphaGo will have the victory.

“AlphaGo plays based on the calculation of enormous data. It does not enjoy the process. Only humans can feel the true virtue of Go,” he said.

The human-versus-AI matches will begin on March 9 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul. All the matches, on March 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15, will be live-streamed around the world via YouTube.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)