Summarize in up to four sentences.: Chess is 'more interesting' with AI, International Grandmaster says
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Yahoo Finance
Yahoo Finance
Tue, August 8, 2023 at 5:38 PM GMT-4
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Artificial intelligence is nothing new in the world of chess. The game has been at the center of AI research for decades - and it "just keeps getting better," International Grandmaster Kenneth Rogoff tells Yahoo Finance. Rogoff, who is also the Maurits C. Boas Chair of International Economics at Harvard University, doesn't see artificial intelligence as bad for chess. "It's actually made it more interesting so far," he says.

Having seen how fast AI evolved within the game, Rogoff predicts applications like ChatGPT will be unrecognizable in five years. Advancements will come "faster than you think," but if the experience of chess is any indication, the technology's evolution won't be as "detrimental" as some may fear.

Rogoff also spoke with Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Brad Smith about Fitch's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and the outlook on inflation in a wide-ranging conversation.

Video Transcript
JULIE HYMAN: There is a link between chess and one of the big things-- themes that we've talked a lot about every day, although we haven't talked about it yet. And that is artificial intelligence. And AlphaZero was, for many, one of the original big AI breakthroughs back in 2017. It was a computer program developed by AI research company DeepMind to master the game of chess. I'm sure you're familiar with that. So I'm curious about your take on AI, both as it relates to chess but also as it relates to our lives right now.

KENNETH ROGOFF: Well, first as it relates to chess, I mean, chess has been at the center of artificial intelligence research since the '60s and '70s. And I knew Richard Greenblatt, who was a pioneer at MIT in the '70s, played his program Ken Thompson, who's now at Google. And this is-- this was one of the most popular events in any AI conference for a very long time.

Indeed, as you say, the DeepMind program, which eventually Google bought, was a phenomenal breakthrough. And what's been interesting, I think, to chess players is it just keeps getting better. They thought computers were gods in 2000. And then the DeepMind came along, and it was even better. So the rate of improvement is phenomenal.

I'll also say that it turns out, hasn't been bad for chess. It would it's actually made it more interesting so far. I hope there are other aspects of our lives, which are true. But I think, you know, having seen how fast it evolves in chess, and it's not once, I think with ChatGPT, we've just seen the beginning. I think in five years, you won't even recognize how phenomenal it will be.

So, yes, this has been a long time coming. I've speculated about it for a long time based on chess. And I think we're finally at the dawn of this. I don't want to sound evangelical, because I don't know which way it's going to go. But, yes. If you look at the experience of chess faster than you think and for longer than you think but also not necessarily as detrimental as you might think. Humans have adjusted. And it's been very good.

JULIE HYMAN: Well, can you elaborate on that a little bit? You said it's made chess more interesting. How?

KENNETH ROGOFF: Well, first of all, people have thought a lot of positions were boring. That the computer shows, well, try me at this position, and it turns out to be just wellsprings of creativity positions, where the best player in the world, Bobby Fischer, I think would have maybe even given me a draw back in 1975. Now is the beginning of the game for many players, so this depth of learning. Players venture much more complicated and interesting positions because they have other ways to explore them.

So surprisingly, we thought it would lead to more draws, right? If you figured out better, you're going to get more draws. Not at all. So here's this simple compared to human intelligence game, which you would think you would solve out, and yet you find these layers of interest. I think we'll see this in art and many, many things. I don't want to get into the whole socioeconomic ramifications. But I think chess has been the cutting edge and will continue. It gives a hint at what we're going to see with other things.

BRAD SMITH: Kenneth, really fascinating. Thanks so much for taking the time here with us today. Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University Chair of International Economics and former Chief Economist at the IMF. Thanks so much.

<PRESIDIO_ANONYMIZED_PERSON>: Thank you.