Chapter 1118

Chapter 1118: Approaching YE for help?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At Zhang Ye’s parents’ house.

Zhang Ye opened the door with his keys when he came back. “Dad, Mom, what’s the matter?”

His mother pouted. “Your dad is upset.”

“About Xiang Rong 9-dan’s loss?” Zhang Ye asked.

“Yeah.” His mother said.

He saw his dad looking annoyed as he had a sip of tea and said, “Just what in the world is that stupid machine? Why hasn’t anyone been able to teach it a lesson yet?”

His mother said, “It was such a pity. He only lost by a little bit!”

His father said angrily, “If they played again, Xiang Rong 9-dan would definitely be able to win!”

Able to win?

That might not be the case.

Zhang Ye could see very clearly that this AI called Peter was very rigorous in its decision making. Anyone would commit a mistake as long as they were human, but Peter was not human and almost wouldn’t make any mistakes. For every move it made, it could meticulously predict the most beneficial position to take through big data analytics and the use of its two special “brains.” Just this alone was already an advantage that was too great and beyond comparison for humans. Furthermore, it even had a massive set of game data to support it. The Americans had probably reconfigured Peter’s settings before the match against Xiang Rong 9-dan to cope with his playing style and come up with the best strategy to ensure the highest chance of victory. So, even if Xiang Rong 9-dan were to play another game against Peter, he still might not be able to win against it. Although on the surface, the difference did not seem that bad.

The television was still on.

A post-match press conference was being held.

Xiang Rong was seated up on stage. His first words were, “I’m sorry.”

Xiang Rong had lost, and a lot of the reporters looked discouraged.

“Teacher Xiang, could it be that you were unable to play to your potential today?”

“Why didn’t you rest for a day before continuing with the second game?”

“Could it be that there is really no one who can win against the AI?”

“Master Xiang, what did you really mean when you said those words in the pre-match interview?”

All the reporters immediately raised their equipment in anticipation.

Afterwards, it was time for the representative of the Americans to be interviewed.

This man was called Smith. The moment he went up, he spoke arrogantly in Mandarin, “Today is a memorable day because an artificial intelligence has triumphed over the wisdom of humanity!”

Quite a few reporters in the audience booed him.

“Get over it!”

“Aren’t you pontificating a little too early!”

“There are still plenty of smart people around!”

“You dare call that Peter thing intelligent?”

Nobody acknowledged this, and neither did they want to acknowledge it!

Smith waved them off in response and announced, “Our claims remain the same as before. Peter will accept a challenge from anyone. In the field of Go, no one will be a match for Peter! This latest AI that our company has developed is way beyond what any human player in existence can achieve. We’re not afraid of any challengers. The current world number one who is also the publicly acknowledged best Go player has suffered a defeat at the hands of Peter. It is now our turn to be challenged. If there is anyone who thinks that they can defeat Peter, let them issue us a challenge. We will not turn anyone down!”

After saying that, Smith left the stage.

Countless people raised objections in condemning voices on Weibo!

“What is he acting all high and mighty for!”

“Damn, this is infuriating!”

“This American has a death wish!”

“There are so many top Go players in China! Why should we be afraid of him?”

“Let’s get him! Fuck him!”

“What about Li Yi 9-dan?”

“What about Liu Hong 9-dan?”

“Isn’t he totally holding us in contempt!”

“Right, all of them should go for it and have a simul match 1 against it!”

“The opponent is a machine and does not have any limitations of stamina or mental fatigue. So it will always be in the best form to play. What’s the use of having a simul match against it? Even Xiang Rong 9-dan has lost!”

“Is there really no one else left?”

“There are so many people with great intelligence in Asia. Don’t tell me there’s no one who can win against it?”

In Japan.

“Even Xiang Rong 9-dan couldn’t beat the AI?”

“Humanity has lost!”

“Go is done for!”

“Yeah, Go is done for!”

In Korea.

“There must still be someone else!”

“Right, didn’t Xiang Rong say it himself? That he’s not the last line of defense!”

“Who else can step forward?”

“We can only look to the Chinese now!”

“But I don’t think there’s anyone else left in the Chinese Go world that stands a chance of winning?”

Citizens from all over Asia burst into an uproar!

This was especially true for the Go enthusiasts and professional players in Asia, as they were all unable to accept this result and the prospects of the Go world heading towards destruction from here on out. If a computer became the strongest player in the Go world, it would really be the end of Go. No one could accept such a setback as it felt like one part of humanity’s culture was getting slaughtered. Today, it was Go. But tomorrow, it might be Xiangqi. Then the day after, it could be mathematics. Someday, they might just set their sights on the arts. When all the industries had been dominated by artificial intelligence, how would humans be able to survive?

There was no retreating any further!

Someone had to step forward!

Many celebrities gradually appeared and gave a show of support as well!

The famous singer, Chen Guang: “Come on, people, don’t let the machines get so arrogant!”

The A-list movie star, Huo Dongfang: “I don’t believe there’s no one left!”

A Heavenly King said: “Xiang Rong 9-dan is right! Don’t look down on humans!”

Famous girl group leader, Xiaodong: “Are there any Go experts left?”

The famous A-list celebrity, Ning Lan: “We can’t let the dignity of humanity get tarnished in this generation of ours! I refuse to believe that there’s no one left who can do it!”

Although Xiang Rong 9-dan lost, it stirred the fighting spirit in a lot of people!

Humanity had not lost yet!

Humanity must not lose either!

…

On the same night.

The public was in chaos!

There were news reports everywhere!

“Has humanity lost?”

“An era of AI dominance upon us?”

“The Go world’s No. 1 loses!”

“Where is humanity’s last line of defense?”

“Japanese citizens hold a demonstration to protest AI!”

“Three Korean pro Go players announce retirement!”

“The impending decline of Go!”

“Challenging the dignity of humanity!”

“Who shall be the ‘savior’?”

At China Qiyuan, newspapers were scattered all over the table.

When Dan Donghe saw this, he screamed, “Clear away all the newspapers!”

The interview had ended, and the reporters had also left, leaving China Qiyuan’s people standing there looking beaten and terrible. Everyone was in a very bad mood and did not know what to say.

Chen Ying 7-dan asked anxiously, “What can we do now?”

“We’ll issue a challenge to it!” Hu Liang said.

Xu Han 8-dan said, “But who’s going to challenge it? Who can we send?”

“Let’s request a simul match!”

“Right, we’ll all take turns to play!”

“No, we’ve already lost too many matches! We can’t lose again this time!”

“We can’t have a simul match! That would make us humans look even more powerless!”

“We have to snatch victory in one fell swoop! We must win the next time we play!”

“How can we win?”

“The opponent could even defeat Master Xiang!”

It was a messy spectacle as everyone was getting confused and flustered by the events!

Wu Changhe gave Li Yi 9-dan a glance and said, “Little Li!”

Everyone looked at him immediately.

Next to Xiang Rong, Li Yi 9-dan was the strongest player in the Qiyuan.

However, Li Yi 9-dan just gave him a look and said immediately, “I can’t do it. Even Old Xiang lost to it. I definitely couldn’t win against it!”

President Dan Donghe turned his attention to yet another active 9-dan player. “Liu Hong!”

Liu Hong 9-dan also said immediately, “I also can’t win against it!”

Dan Donghe said, “Even if you have a 10% chance of winning, you still have to step up to the challenge!”

Liu Hong gave a wry smile. “I don’t even feel like I have 10% chance of winning!”

They were all professional Go players and had witnessed Peter’s strength for themselves. As such, they had an idea of its capabilities and knew that it was impossible for them to win against it. If there was anyone capable of winning against Peter, it would have been Xiang Rong 9-dan. But since Master Xiang had lost…

“You’re too afraid to even step up to the challenge?” Wu Changhe was furious.

Dan Donghe said loudly, “Whoever is confident of restricting Peter’s playstyle, step forward now!”

No one came forward!

Nobody moved!

“There’s no way to restrict it!”

“It’s a computer and its playstyle is not fixed!”

“Right, it does not even have its own style!”

“Even Master Xiang could not win. There is no one in the entire Go world who can equal Peter!”

Dan Donghe was also panicking now. He was not the kind of person to take an offensive stance and initially did not want Xiang Rong to accept the challenge. That was because he knew that their chances were really slim. If Xiang Rong had not played against Peter, even if it would be a loss of face, they would at least still be able to preserve the dignity of humanity. But now that even Xiang Rong had lost, they did not have any other choice and could only step up to the challenge. They had to win!

Was there no one else left?

Was there really no one else left?

Suddenly, Chen Ying thought of something. She froze for a moment before shouting, “We still have a champion! There is someone! There is at least one more person who has the chance of defeating Peter!”

Everyone looked at her!

“Who?”

“Who is it?”

“Little Chen, tell us quickly!”

Chen Ying said something shocking. “Did you guys forget about him? That guy called YE!”

Suddenly, everyone realized who it was and thought of him!

YE!

Yes!

That YE!

Li Yi 9-dan slapped his thigh and said, “Right, he’s an amazing player. When I played against him, I had to resign in the middlegame!”

Xu Han also said excitedly, “That’s right, that’s right. Even Master Xiang could only manage a draw with him!”

Chen Ying said, “If there is anyone other than Master Xiang who can go against that Peter, then it can only be that YE!”

Everyone nodded in full agreement as they had witnessed YE’s skill!

Dan Donghe banged the table and said, “It’s him then! How could I forget him! How could I have forgotten about him!”

Liu Hong 9-dan said, “But we don’t even know who he is!” He then turned to look at Wu Changhe.

Instantly, everyone at the Qiyuan stared at Wu Changhe. In here, only he knew who YE was. From the words that YE had said to him, everyone could see that the two of them had a conflict. They couldn’t be blamed if they thought that there was a huge grudge between them!

1. https://senseis.xmp.net/?SimultaneousGo