The Rise of The Machines (Sort of)

On May 11 1997, a computer built by IBM called Deep Blue won a 6-game chess match against grandmaster Garry Kasparov, the first time a computer accomplished such a feat. Kasparov is widely considered to be the greatest chess player in history and the ability of a computer to best “one of humanity’s great intellectual champions”(1) was a watershed moment for the legitimization of artificial intelligence. But the real story is more about human frailty than the rise of computer intelligence.

Kasparov defeated Deep Blue 4–2 a year prior. Bolstered by winning the first game, the IBM team worked to build on that success and prepare Deep Blue for a rematch. Game 1 was won quite easily by Kasparov this time around. However, something interesting happened on move 44. Deep Blue moved its rook for no apparent reason. Kasparov won on his next move, but Deep Blue’s inexplicable play planted a seed. Since Kasparov didn't understand the move, he began to think that perhaps this computer was a superior intelligence. Maybe it knew something he didn't.

But the computer wasn’t smarter. In fact, it was so completely outsmarted that it couldn’t figure out any move to make. And when it couldn’t figure out a move, the programming instruction was for Deep Blue to make a random move. There was no logic or intelligence behind it, it just did something random because it didn’t know what else to do. The real turning point in the evolution of artificial intelligence wasn’t that a computer was actually smarter than a smart human, it was that a smart human believed that a computer could be smarter than him.

In the second game, Deep Blue unexpectedly avoided a trap that had previously foiled computer players and ultimately forced Kasparov to resign. The game featured a completely uncharacteristic mistake by the grandmaster that cost him the opportunity to force a draw. But Kasparov’s anxiety from Game 1 and the surprising play of Deep Blue in Game 2 created a huge psychological advantage.

By Game 6, Kasparov was defeated in only 19 moves. It was the first time he had ever lost a match.

He accused the Deep Blue team of cheating.

Deep Blue, of course, offered no comment.