Google DeepMind's AlphaGo computer has won over South Korean grandmaster Lee Se-dol in a friendly but historic showdown on the ancient Chinese boardgame “Go.” Now, Chinese netizens are challenging the artificial intelligence computer to take it to the next level.

They want AlphaGo to take on the Chinese response to poker – Mahjong.

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Netizens have been posting the said challenge on social media website Sina Weibo, reports Xinhua. Several of these posts simply stated, “Can AI beat mahjong masters?”

AlphaGo has fared excellently in the tournament against Lee, winning three rounds before receiving a loss. While many have expressed praises in the AI's victory, some think that it will have difficulty in playing against Chinese mahjong players, notes the South China Morning Post.

“Go is the most difficult game in mathematics,” a Sina Weibo user posted, “but mahjong is the most difficult one in human intelligence.”

The poster added that AlphaGo will have a hard time fighting against a 'Sichuan dama' (older woman) in a game of mahjong.

Go, or 'weiqi' as it's known in China, is played by two opposing players, each of them taking turns to put either black or white stones and working on capturing each other and filling the board. The winner is decided by the amount of territory one has taken over in the game board.

Mahjong, on the other hand, is played by four people, drawing tiles from a pool of 144 tiles, and work on discarding or intercepting others and forming winning tile sets.

While many agree that mahjong has fewer permutations than go, many believe that it has other factors that might favor human players.

Expert Opinion

Feng Jianfeng, the chief scientist for a Shanghai project that involves brain science and AI, does not bet on AlphaGo (or any AI) to win against mahjong experts, because the game requires more human intelligence (such as emotions, decision making, creativity and attention) than plain calculation.

Ren Yi, CEO of a Nanjing-based company and an expert on computer game AI, also shares the same opinion.

Ren said that mahjong involves a level of irrationality, which includes emotions. – qualities that AI doesn't have.

TagsAlphaGo, Lee Se-dol, Go, weiqi, mahjong, Google, DeepMind