Computer Go Advances

A professional 8-dan player has been defeated by MoGo, a computer Go program that uses Monte Carlo tree search algorithms, in a 9-stone handicap game on a 19x19 board. [usgo.org] [slashdot.org]

This represents a major milestone in computer Go, and is also, evidence that the Monte Carlo tree search algorithm is a viable search technique that works in high branching factor domains. In my honest opinion, the budding graduate student in computer games research can easily find applications of this technique in emerging problems which are unsolvable by traditional techniques.

Think RTS, think war games, think huge risk mitigation situations like epidemic simulations. sigh I had a research proposal rejected a year ago based on this concept, and, as a result, made me switch from academic research to industry.