Glib¹ Chinese web users have raised a challenge to the AI program that recently dethroned one of the top human Go players, demanding tongue-in-cheek that the AlphaGo program learn the nation's real pastime - mahjong.

 

人工智能程序“阿尔法围棋”打败世界顶级围棋选手后，好事的中国网友向其发起挑战，戏称：应该让“阿尔法围棋”学习一下另一项更具有中国特色的娱乐活动——麻将。

 

China's reaction toward the historic duel² between human and artificial intelligence has been mixed. At first, there were questions on why the human player did not come from China, where the game was invented more than 2,500 years ago.

 

Then, as AlphaGo marked three victories in the five-game match, defiant³ web users began calling for a challenge in an arena⁴ average Chinese are more comfortable in.

 

"Can AI beat mahjong masters?" was posted several times in the comment section of stories about the AlphaGo-Lee Sedol match on Chinese microblog Sina Weibo, where they attracted a deluge⁵ of comments defending humanity' glory in mahjong.

 

Mahjong, China's answer to poker⁶, is usually played by four people. Each turn, players draw tiles from a 144-tile pool, discard or intercept⁷ others' to form sets of tiles that can win. Scientists say compared with Go, mahjong has far fewer permutations for AI calculation, but involves a degree of chance and other factors in favor of humans.

 

"Sometimes with a glimpse of the other player's facial expression, I know how he or she is going to play. Can AI do that?" asked one blogger.

 

"Unlike Go, mahjong is not a quiet game that focuses on calculation. It involves a lot of interactions and teamwork between players," another blogger commented.

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