Google computer first to beat human at world's hardest game

Artificial intelligence has taken a major leap forward thanks to a Google program 'learning' how to defeat Europe's top player of the world's most complex board game, Go.

The ancient Chinese game gives players about 180 more possible moves at any stage of play compared to chess, and was considered too difficult for a computer to keep up with the creativity needed to win a game.

However the AlphaGo program proved otherwise and took down champion player Fan Hui in a resounding five games to nil.

Man squared off against machine last October, but a scientific study of the computer's moves was only recently published in the journal Nature.

Demis Hassabis worked on the program and said AlphaGo's performance even surprised the Google development team.

"There are more configurations of the board than there are atoms in the Universe. In the end, AlphaGo won 5-0 and it was perhaps stronger than even we were expecting," Hassabis said.

"AlphaGo discovered for itself many of the patterns and moves needed to play Go. Go is considered to be the pinnacle of AI research – the holy grail."

President of the British Go Association said the 5-0 drubbing was remarkable, The Independent reports.

"I was still expecting that it would be at least five or 10 years before a program would be able to beat the top human players," he said.

AlphaGo is scheduled to square off against the world champion of Go, South Korea's Lee Sedol, in March.