It's AI vs. humans in this week's history-making Go face-off

When IBM's Deep Blue beat chess champion Garry Kasparov back in 1997, the world was agog over AI's potential. This week, Google DeepMind's AlphaGo system will face an even tougher test in a series of matches against a top-ranked master in the ancient game of Go.

The tournament will in many ways be an ultimate challenge for the artificial-intelligence system following its victory last fall -- roughly a decade earlier than anyone had expected -- over European champion Fan Hui.

Go is an ancient Chinese game widely considered even more complex than chess, even though its rules are simpler. The player's objective is to surround the opponent’s pieces by alternately placing black and white pieces on a 19-by-19-line grid while simultaneously avoiding having his or her own pieces surrounded. With more possible positions than there are atoms in the universe, Go has long been considered an ultimate challenge for AI researchers.

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