AlphaGo

Go is more than two thousand years old and was known as the last great game computers could not win; the number of possible positions on the board is beyond comparison with chess. The DeepMind team in London builds a programme called AlphaGo. In 2016 a five game match is arranged in Seoul against Lee Sedol, one of the best players in the world. The documentary follows that week. Greg Kohs directs. The moment at the centre is the thirty seventh move in the second game. AlphaGo plays a move no human would; the experts in the hall took it for a mistake and then understood that it was right. The documentary builds it as a turning point. What interests the narrative is the person rather than the technology. The camera stays on Lee Sedol; what he goes through while losing, the press conferences and how he responds afterwards are the real subject. Move seventy eight in the fourth game is the emotional peak; Lee Sedol takes his one win there and that move is separately remembered in the history of Go. The documentary was produced with the DeepMind team and the critical distance is limited; the ethics of artificial intelligence are barely discussed. Lee Sedol later cited these games when he retired from professional Go. Who it is for: anyone interested in the history of artificial intelligence and documentaries on mind sports. Who it is not for: the technical detail is closed without a knowledge of Go, the narrative is one sided, and the pace is slow.