Why AlphaGo Is Such a Big Deal
I don&#x27;t think this is really why AlphaGo is a big deal. He&#x27;s not wrong about the ways that it works vs. DeepBlue, but there&#x27;s a much simpler way to understand why AlphaGo is a big deal.<p>(I am not an AI researcher, but I work with AI researchers, like by putting on training programs and recruiting for them, and working out of the same office, and this is a summary of [my understanding of] their discussions about this topic.)<p>AGI is a Hard Problem (TM), and no one really knows how hard it is. General intelligence is made of algorithms that are somewhere on a spectrum between dizzyingly complex math that we have decades+ more work to develop, and simple components that someone in their basement could stumble upon at any moment if only we had a couple key insights. (Sorry for the gross oversimplification.)<p>Before AlphaGo there was a whole area of probability space that seemed plausible--a whole area of complexity that had yet to be worked out in detail. AlphaGo proved that more or less current AI tech was sufficient for that problem (current meaning one incremental step forward, as opposed to some revolutionary insight). That&#x27;s why they &quot;moved the field forward by 10 years&quot;--by proving that the work that AI researchers basically expected to have to do over the next 10 years is not necessary.<p>Said another way, we&#x27;re closer to the &quot;simple components&quot; end of the spectrum than we collectively thought. AlphaGo proved that, and that&#x27;s why it&#x27;s a big deal.