Taiwan’s Aja Huang (黃士傑) is one of the key developers behind AlphaGo, the artificial intelligence (AI) program developed by Google’s DeepMind unit that on Thursday secured a second win against go world champion Lee Sedol in Seoul.
Huang, who obtained sixth-dan ranking as an amateur go player in 2007, sat opposite Lee during the first two matches, placing the counters on behalf of AlphaGo.
Professor Lin Shun-hsi (林順喜) at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) said Huang completed his doctorate in computer engineering inside five years, but extended the course by two years to develop software known as “Erica.”
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University professor Lin Shun-hsi
Huang chose go as his primary subject the moment he enrolled in the program, Lin said, adding that his initial programs lost against low-level go players.
The culmination of nearly a decade of effort was the software Erica, which defeated the then-champion program “Zen” and won a gold at the Computer Olympiad.
Huang was also the founding member of the go club at NTNU, Lin said.
Huang was in constant contact with many first-rate programmers abroad and he used that to his advantage, Lin said, adding that Huang could often be found making video calls to the experts to discuss crucial programming techniques if he was having problems.
Huang obtained a job as a research assistant in Canada and went on to work at English company DeepMind in 2012, Lin said, adding that Huang and David Silver were the head programmers at the company.
Lin said he is happy that Huang never gave up his explorations of AI programming for the game go.
“Huang is living proof that NTNU should not just be known as a university that produces educators,” Lin said.
The next match between Lee and AlphaGo is scheduled for today, with a total of five matches to be played by Tuesday next week. The winner is to receive a prize of US$1 million (NT$32,95 million).
Lee, a South Korean who holds 18 world titles, said he was “speechless” after losing a match for a second consecutive day on Thursday.
Lee said AlphaGo played a near-perfect game on Thursday and admitted that he did not feel he was leading at any point during the game.
AlphaGo generated widespread attention when an article published in the journal Nature explained how DeepMind had succeeded in producing an AI program that had mastered go and had achieved a 99.8 percent success rate against other AI programs.
Additional reporting by CNA
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
A Japanese space rocket carrying a Taiwanese satellite blasted off yesterday, but was later seen spiraling downward in the distance as the company said the launch attempt had failed. It was the second attempt by the Japanese start-up Space One to become the country’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit, after its first try in March ended in a mid-air explosion. This time, its solid-fuel Kairos rocket had been carrying five satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency and others designed by Japanese students and corporate ventures. Spectators gathered near the company’s coastal Spaceport Kii launch pad in Japan’s
RSS