Google-owned AI DeepMind defeats Go world champion
Google’s DeepMind AlphaGo program has beaten Go world champion in what is being billed as a landmark battle between man and artificial intelligence (AI).
South Korea's Lee Se-dol was narrowly defeated in the first of a series of five games in Seoul yesterday.
AlphaGo has already been the European Go champion back in October 2015 in a development that surprised pundits.
Even though a computer has beaten the chess world champion, it was believed AI would still not be developed enough to beat Go champions because the ancient Chinese Go game has an "incomputable" number of moves, which means the computer must be capable of human-like intuition to win.
The Go player has won 18 world championships since turning professional at the age of 12 and said AlphaGo's early strategy was "excellent'' and he was stunned by one unconventional move it had made that a human never would have played.
Source: BBC
Low-income households to receive energy price cap
Gas and electricity prices are to be temporarily capped for the UK’s four million poorest households on pre-payment meters following a two year investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The CMA has also called for a new database of customers who haven’t switched in three years to be made available to rivals to encourage them to contact people paying over the odds for energy.
Roger Witcomb, chairman of the CMA’s energy market investigation, said: "The six largest suppliers have learned to take many of their existing domestic customers – some 70 per cent of whom are on ‘default’ standard variable tariffs – for granted, not just over prices, but with their service and quality."
The new database will be operated by energy watchdog Ofgem to guarantee iimpartiality.
Source: The Independent
Facebook buys ‘face-swapping’ app Masquerade
Facebook is buying the firm behind ‘face-swapping’ app Masquerade, one of the most popular apps on the App Store.
The app allows the user to overlay playful, animated filters over their face using a phone’s front facing camera to ‘swap your face with celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio or animals such as a monkey.
Facebook is expected to integrate the technology into its own apps, but also keep Masquerade operational as a standalone and free app.
The app's three founders - Eugene Nevgen, Sergey Gonchar, and Eugene Zatepyakin -will work out of Facebook's London office.
Source: Tech Insider
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