In a game context you’re right, of course. But I often hear AI people casually say things like “chess is solved”, meaning something like “we solved the problem of getting AIs to be superhumanly good at chess” (example). For now I think we have to stop saying that about go, and instead talk about it more like how we talk about Starcraft.
I don’t like it. “The problem of creating AI that is superhuman at chess” isn’t encapsulated in the word “chess”, so you shouldn’t say you “solved chess” if what you mean is that you created an AI that is superhuman at chess. What it means for a game to be solved is widely-known and well-developed[0]. Using the exact same word, in extremely similar context, to mean something else seems unnecessarily confusing.
Like I said, I feel like I hear it a lot, and in practice I don’t think it’s confusing because the games that get solved by theorists and the games that get “solved” by AIs are in such vastly different complexity regimes. Like, if you heard that Arimaa had been solved, you’d immediately know which sense was meant, right?
Having said that, the voters clearly disagree and I’m not that attached to it, so I’m going to rename the post. Can you think of a single adjective or short phrase that captures the quality that chess has, and Starcraft doesn’t, WRT AI? That’s really what I want people to take away.
If I can’t think of anything better I expect I’ll go with “There are (probably) no superhuman Go AIs yet: …”.
Nit: that’s not what “solved” means. Superhuman ability =/= solved.
In a game context you’re right, of course. But I often hear AI people casually say things like “chess is solved”, meaning something like “we solved the problem of getting AIs to be superhumanly good at chess” (example). For now I think we have to stop saying that about go, and instead talk about it more like how we talk about Starcraft.
Man, that’s such a terrible way to say it, given “solved game” has a pre-existing technical meaning.
But in this case it’s probably because Eliezer wanted to get it under 280 characters, lol
To which one should reply: ‘oh really, is it a draw or a win for white?’
Mostly correct, but because passing isn’t allowed, it is not necessarily the case that black doesn’t have a forced win.
I don’t like it. “The problem of creating AI that is superhuman at chess” isn’t encapsulated in the word “chess”, so you shouldn’t say you “solved chess” if what you mean is that you created an AI that is superhuman at chess. What it means for a game to be solved is widely-known and well-developed[0]. Using the exact same word, in extremely similar context, to mean something else seems unnecessarily confusing.
[0] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solved_game
Like I said, I feel like I hear it a lot, and in practice I don’t think it’s confusing because the games that get solved by theorists and the games that get “solved” by AIs are in such vastly different complexity regimes. Like, if you heard that Arimaa had been solved, you’d immediately know which sense was meant, right?
Having said that, the voters clearly disagree and I’m not that attached to it, so I’m going to rename the post. Can you think of a single adjective or short phrase that captures the quality that chess has, and Starcraft doesn’t, WRT AI? That’s really what I want people to take away.
If I can’t think of anything better I expect I’ll go with “There are (probably) no superhuman Go AIs yet: …”.