Press Release
Future of Go in Canada Panel Discussion
The Canadian Go Community gathers together to discuss the after-effects of the AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol Match
TORONTO, ON (March 17, 2016) – The Canadian Go Association and leaders in the Go community will be hosting a media conference and panel discussion on March 31, 2016. The panel discussion will provide insights into AlphaGo’s impact on the Go community in Canada and exchange views on the future of Go education and AI teaching programs.
The five match challenge began in Seoul on March 9 and ended on March 15 with Google’s AI securing four wins out five matches against the World’s Go Champion, Lee Sedol. Aside from pure strategy and tactics, Go also employs human decision making and intuition, which is one of many reasons why it was hard for computer programs to beat.
Millions of people watched the games and were awed by the power of AlphaGo’s learning ability. However, AlphaGo’s challenge is not yet over—the 18-year-old Chinese Go champion Ke Jie is planning to challenge AlphaGo. He holds an 8-2 record against Lee Sedol since late 2015 and is the only player to win two world championships since 2011.
DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis has also said about plans to test a version without any of the human training.
“Currently, AlphaGo plays with a very ’human’ style. There has been discussion of training AlphaGo without the 100K human game data set. If it can be done, I'm wondering if AlphaGo will continue to play with such a human style, or if we will see many new opening patterns,” said James Sedgwick, President of Canadian Go Association.
AlphaGo has definitely popularized the game. “AlphaGo has encouraged more people to learn and play Go, and will surely have more Go players challenge it,” said Johnny Lau, the president of the Toronto Go Club.
The Future of Go Panel Discussion aims to discuss the future of Go development and the future of human interactions with AI teaching programs.
More details:
What: Future of Go: The After-effects of AlphaGo vs. Human Match
When: Thursday, March 31, 2016
6:30 p.m. Registration
7:00 p.m. Remarks
7:30 p.m. Panel discussions
Topic #1 The after-effects of AlphaGo for the Go community
Topic #2 The future of Go education
Topic #3 The AI side of AlphaGo—what’s next for humans?
8:30 p.m. Open Q&A
Where: Hart House Music Room
7 Hart House Circle,
Toronto, ON
Who: James Sedgwick,
President, Canadian Go Association
Manager, Aggregation technologies,
Risk Analytics division, IBM Canada
Ryan Li (1P),
Professional Go Player, North America
Joanna Liu,
Go education program outreach
Golden Key Cultural Center
Johnny Lau,
President, Toronto Go Club
Ben Xu,
President, of University of Toronto Go Club
U of T Machine Learning (Guest TBA)
Google Canada (Guest TBA)
ABOUT THE CANADIAN GO ASSOCIATION
The Canadian Go Association is the governing body in Canada for the game of Go. It is affiliated with the International Go Federation in Tokyo. The Canadian Go Association sponsors and sanctions tournaments and selects participants to represent Canada at the World Amateur Go Championship, the Prime Minister’s Cup, the International Pairs’ Tournament, the World Youth Tournament and other international tournaments.
ABOUT GOLDEN KEY CULTURAL CENTER
Golden Key Cultural Center Inc. is a vibrant organization that bridges North American and Asian Culture through creative educational programs. It has been a key player in organizing Go related events in the Greater Toronto Area, including the 2013 Canadian Go Open Tournament. Golden Key created the semi-annual Children’s Go Level Exam that hugely impacted the Canadian Go education system. It is committed to bringing Go players together to further the study of Go and to develop skills in Go.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Joanna Liu | 647.868.6001 | [email protected]
Future of Go in Canada Panel Discussion
The Canadian Go Community gathers together to discuss the after-effects of the AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol Match
TORONTO, ON (March 17, 2016) – The Canadian Go Association and leaders in the Go community will be hosting a media conference and panel discussion on March 31, 2016. The panel discussion will provide insights into AlphaGo’s impact on the Go community in Canada and exchange views on the future of Go education and AI teaching programs.
The five match challenge began in Seoul on March 9 and ended on March 15 with Google’s AI securing four wins out five matches against the World’s Go Champion, Lee Sedol. Aside from pure strategy and tactics, Go also employs human decision making and intuition, which is one of many reasons why it was hard for computer programs to beat.
Millions of people watched the games and were awed by the power of AlphaGo’s learning ability. However, AlphaGo’s challenge is not yet over—the 18-year-old Chinese Go champion Ke Jie is planning to challenge AlphaGo. He holds an 8-2 record against Lee Sedol since late 2015 and is the only player to win two world championships since 2011.
DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis has also said about plans to test a version without any of the human training.
“Currently, AlphaGo plays with a very ’human’ style. There has been discussion of training AlphaGo without the 100K human game data set. If it can be done, I'm wondering if AlphaGo will continue to play with such a human style, or if we will see many new opening patterns,” said James Sedgwick, President of Canadian Go Association.
AlphaGo has definitely popularized the game. “AlphaGo has encouraged more people to learn and play Go, and will surely have more Go players challenge it,” said Johnny Lau, the president of the Toronto Go Club.
The Future of Go Panel Discussion aims to discuss the future of Go development and the future of human interactions with AI teaching programs.
More details:
What: Future of Go: The After-effects of AlphaGo vs. Human Match
When: Thursday, March 31, 2016
6:30 p.m. Registration
7:00 p.m. Remarks
7:30 p.m. Panel discussions
Topic #1 The after-effects of AlphaGo for the Go community
Topic #2 The future of Go education
Topic #3 The AI side of AlphaGo—what’s next for humans?
8:30 p.m. Open Q&A
Where: Hart House Music Room
7 Hart House Circle,
Toronto, ON
Who: James Sedgwick,
President, Canadian Go Association
Manager, Aggregation technologies,
Risk Analytics division, IBM Canada
Ryan Li (1P),
Professional Go Player, North America
Joanna Liu,
Go education program outreach
Golden Key Cultural Center
Johnny Lau,
President, Toronto Go Club
Ben Xu,
President, of University of Toronto Go Club
U of T Machine Learning (Guest TBA)
Google Canada (Guest TBA)
ABOUT THE CANADIAN GO ASSOCIATION
The Canadian Go Association is the governing body in Canada for the game of Go. It is affiliated with the International Go Federation in Tokyo. The Canadian Go Association sponsors and sanctions tournaments and selects participants to represent Canada at the World Amateur Go Championship, the Prime Minister’s Cup, the International Pairs’ Tournament, the World Youth Tournament and other international tournaments.
ABOUT GOLDEN KEY CULTURAL CENTER
Golden Key Cultural Center Inc. is a vibrant organization that bridges North American and Asian Culture through creative educational programs. It has been a key player in organizing Go related events in the Greater Toronto Area, including the 2013 Canadian Go Open Tournament. Golden Key created the semi-annual Children’s Go Level Exam that hugely impacted the Canadian Go education system. It is committed to bringing Go players together to further the study of Go and to develop skills in Go.
–30–
MEDIA CONTACT: Joanna Liu | 647.868.6001 | [email protected]