Chapter 2
Artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data
On 11 May 1997, an IBM computer named Deep Blue made history by defeating Garry Kasparov, the reigning world chess champion, in a match in New York City. Deep Blue won using raw computing muscle, evaluating up to 200 million moves per second as it referred to a list of rules it had been programmed to follow. Its programmers even adjusted its programming between games. But Deep Blue was a one-trick pony, soon dismantled. Computers were far from outperforming humans at most elementary tasks or in more complicated games, such as the Chinese game of Go, where there are more possible game states than atoms in the universe (see Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1 A Go gameboard.
Fast forward ...
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