The Telegraph My details My newsletters Logout Upgrade to Premium My details My newsletters Logout The Telegraph Computer beats Chinese master in ancient board game of Go with Dr David Silver after the match Credit: EPA 24 May 2017 • 1:23am A Google artificial intelligence programme defeated a Chinese grand master at the ancient board game Go on Tuesday, a major feather in the cap for the firm's AI ambitions as it looks to woo Beijing to gain re-entry into the country.
 In the first of three planned games in the eastern water town of Wuzhen, the AlphaGo programme held off China's world number one Ke Jie in front of Chinese officials and Google parent Alphabet's chief executive Eric Schmidt.
 The victory over the world's top player - which many thought would take decades to achieve - underlines the potential of artificial intelligence to take on humans at complex tasks.
 Wooing Beijing may be less simple.
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 Both are blocked by China, as is Google search.
 Ke Jie competes against Google's artificial intelligence (AI) program AlphaGo Ke Jie competes against Google's artificial intelligence (AI) program AlphaGo Credit: Rex Google pulled its search engine from China seven years ago after it refused to self-censor internet searches, a requirement of Beijing.
 Since then it has been inaccessible behind the country's nationwide firewall.
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 In March it also said Chinese users would be able to access the Translate mobile app, marking its most recent success launching a previously banned service.
 Like AlphaGo, Translate also uses DeepMind's artificial intelligence software.
 A screen shows referees judging after the match featuring Ke Jie against AlphaGo A screen shows referees judging after the match featuring Ke Jie against AlphaGo Credit: EPA Beijing is pushing to become a major player in artificial intelligence.
 Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc, launched an AI lab in March with China's state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission.