Machine beat man last year but at last night’s world premiere of “AlphaGo,” the people were the stars. The documentary about the 2016 AlphaGo-Lee Sedol match screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and “chronicles Google’s DeepMind team as it prepares to test the limits of its rapidly-evolving AI technology,” writes Tribeca film programmer Ian Hollander. “The film pits machine against 
man, and reveals as much about the workings of the human mind as it does the future of AI.” The film has four more showings at Tribeca this week (Sunday at 4:15, Monday 6:15, Wednesday 9:15 and Thursday 4p) and will then screen Friday night at the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre in Washington, DC to cap the Grand Opening of the National Go Center (stay tuned for details on tickets).
Director Greg Kohs has pulled off the impressive feat of making a film about go that will appeal to both players and non-players. There is, of course, plenty of go, and, for those who followed last year’s match, the film offers a chance not only to revisit the most momentous match in go history, but to venture behind the scenes to see what the DeepMind crew was seeing, thinking and feeling as their creation took on the legendary Lee Sedol. Kohs’ team also captures wonderful small moments that will resonate with go players, like a close-up of Lee’s fingers tapping as he considers a move, or a longshot of Lee from above on an empty terrace as he smokes a cigarette while AlphaGo, oblivious to the presence or absence of its opponent, plays move 37, the famous gasp-inducing shoulder-hit in Game 2. Kohs then takes us inside the AlphaGo team’s room where they explain that that the program calculated that there was a one-in-ten-thousand chance that a human would make that move, yet decided to play it anyway.
As fascinating as it is to finally “see” AlphaGo in the whiteboard scribbles, screens of data and the laptop that sits next to programmer Aja Huang as he plays AlphaGo’s moves, it’s the dramatic and ultimately deeply emotional and satisfying journey of the DeepMind team that really drives the film. CEO Demis Hassabis, along with programmers Aja Huang and David Silver, are all clearly brilliant and intensely driven, but like go professional Fan Hui, they find beauty and poetry in the lines of code that increasingly shape all our lives. More than that, they find humanity. “To be a master, you must crush the cage of everything you know,” Fan Hui said after Friday night’s screening. “We asked AlphaGo to win a game,” added David Silver, “but we can use AI to win at other things, to solve other problems.”
– report/photo by Chris Garlock; photo (l-r): “AlphaGo” director Greg Kohs, Fan Hui, David Silver, Demis Hassabis and Wired writer Cade Metz.
National Go Center opens Friday: free “AlphaGo” tix still available
Wednesday April 26, 2017
With the opening of the new National Go Center less than 48 hours away, excitement is building in the go community
and a full schedule of events is planned, highlighted by Friday night’s “AlphaGo” screening, followed by club play at the Center and then the Cherry Blossom tournament Saturday. See below for complete details.
Friday, April 28
3:30p: Grand Opening ribbon-cutting: Featured guests include Nihon Ki-in Chairman Hiroaki Dan and his wife Yasuko and Michael Redmond 9P. This is event is open to the public but space is very limited; register here.
7:00p: “AlphaGo” screens at AFI Silver Theatre: This is a private event and free tickets are still available; email
journal@usgo.org. AGA members, their families and members of the go community are strongly encouraged to attend. The screening is at 7p at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910. (btw Chinese readers can check out this nice translation of our recent article on the AlphaGo movie)
AFTER THE SCREENING: The new National Go Center — 4652 Wisconsin Ave NW in Washington, DC —will host its first-ever regular go play: help get the Center off to a great start!
photo: still from “AlphaGo”
Saturday, April 29
9:00a: Cherry Blossom 2017, a 4-round AGA rated tournament. Pre-register here; space is limited and pre-registration for this historic first NGC tournament is strongly encouraged.
7:30p: Haskell Small’s “A Game of Go” and commentary by Michael Redmond 9P with Chris Garlock (Member Priority event; see note below)
The evening’s program begins with pianist Haskell Small and another pianist performing Small’s “A Game of Go,” an original composition inspired by a famous game by the legendary Shusaku.
Michael Redmond and Chris Garlock will then do a commentary on one of the new games by Master/AlphaGo reprising their roles as commentators on the historic AlphaGo match a year ago. Audience questions and comments are welcome! photo: the NGC’s main playing area during renovations earlier this month; photo by Chris Garlock
NOTE: Saturday night’s event is a “Member Priority” event. Space is limited and first priority will be given to those who have made a membership commitment to the NGC at the basic level of $60/year or more. Click here to join (note “membership” in message).