Fears of creating a political "underclass" – leaving those without a digital paddle drowning in the tide of automation – are not unfounded. Given the perceived inevitability of job losses due to automation, some (neo-luddites if you will) are questioning whether everything that can be automated should be automated. But the difference today," he chuckles, "is that for the first time machines are threatening the jobs of people with college degrees and Twitter accounts." And for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, this process was never questioned. From the very beginning, we came out with new concepts, new machines, new tools to help us to do repetitive tasks and concentrate on something more productive. "It's just a new step in the history of human progress. I think we're still at the stage where we're yet to define what AI is, and you have to start with the 'I' – intelligence."Ĭhess Grandmaster and writer Garry Kasparov speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017 - Day 3 at Pier 36 on in New York City.įor a man whose public battles with a machine were seen as a harbinger for a new era of computational prowess, he remains sanguine, insisting machines are not our enemies. "If you have 10 experts in the room and ask how they define AI, you may end up with 15 different answers. "I recommend being very careful using the word AI," he insists, in a gravelly Russian baritone. Who better to discuss AI with, than a man who was famously beaten by it?
Alongside his political life, his unique relationship with machines – after two decades of reflection – has turned Kasparov into a poster boy for embracing the future. Since retiring from international chess in 2005, his life has been a perfect storm of human rights activism and anti-Putin polemic. Kasparov is in London with Avast, an information security firm for which he is ambassador, speaking at IP Expo.įorehead swollen and bandaged, the chess world champion of 15 years is three hours late for our interview due to an earlier car accident, but in good spirits, considering. Machine chess championship Februin New York City. ''Last year he came back and whupped us.Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov ponders a move during the final match against chess supercomputer Deep Junior in the the Man vs. ''We really have to watch out for that,'' Mr. In the third game of the match, scheduled for 3 P.M. Whether Deep Blue can continue to do so is uncertain. That amounts to strategic chess, playing against a hypothetical future, which computers had thus far not accomplished. ''But what this was doing was considering Kasparov's counter-play.'' ''Usually what computers do is create their own threats,'' Ms. technician across the table, resigning the game. Kasparov stood after Deep Blue's 45th move and offered his hand to Feng-Hsiung Hsu, the I.B.M. In spite of all the separate quarters, a connecting bolt of electricity flew through the building when Mr. Journalists and a variety of chess grandmasters have been crowded in a room on the 49th floor. Up to 500 spectators have gathered in a ground-floor auditorium, where they are watching the game on video screens and listening to the commentary of highly rated chess players like Mr. The match is being played at the Equitable Center at Seventh Avenue and 51st Street in Manhattan, where the players are sequestered in a small, specially constructed studio on the 35th floor. It was an unpleasant position for him to play, and he had to hang on and hang on and hope for a mistake.'' ''It kept control the whole game, and then squeezed and squeezed. ''A lot of people were reminded of Karpov, who used this opening and then squeezed people to death,'' Mr. Kasparov looked uncomfortable almost throughout the game, squirming and furrowing his brow, holding his chin in his hands and staring bullet holes into the board.