Ke Jie versus AlphaGo (file photo)

The world’s top-ranked Go player, Ke Jie, said that the AlphaGo AI system is “unbeatable” after the latter edged him out in a competitive match-up during the five-day Future of Go summit in Wuzhen.

On May 23, Ke lost the first of three matches against his artificial adversary by just half a point. AlphaGo’s narrowest victory under Go rules in China indicated that its rival has made significant progress. According to the rules of the contest, Ke and AlphaGo have three hours to make their moves, one hour longer than last year.

“AlphaGo may defeat Lee Sedol, but not me,” Ke said in the past, displaying an overconfident attitude toward his AI rival. But last year, an updated version of AlphaGo defeated him without suffering a single loss.

Ke called the opportunity to play against such a sophisticated AI “the greatest honor” of his life.

“Last year, AlphaGo played more like a human, this year he plays like a different man,” the champion said.