Seminar by Prof. Fabian Gaessler, TU Munich
Event details
| Date | 16.10.2019 |
| Hour | 12:00 › 13:30 |
| Speaker | Prof. Fabian Gaessler, TU Munich |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
"Training with AI, Winning Against Humans – Evidence from Chess Computers"
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been shown to compete with people for increasingly complex tasks. However, little is known about how AI may complement human labor. We propose that interacting with AI can benefit human skill development and provide evidence for this by studying the first large-scale adoption of AI: the emergence of chess computers in the late 1970s. We hypothesize that chess computers provide anytime, private training and experimentation opportunities with positive effect on human player performance in tournaments. We exploit the unavailability of chess computers in the Soviet Union until its collapse as a natural experiment for chess computer adoption. We find evidence that chess computers had a positive effect on human player performance, but this effect depends on whether the available AI represented a sufficiently strong sparring partner. Human players with access to on par chess computers became more competitive and experienced a faster increase in skill level. Furthermore, they started to play more diverse and introduced new strategies more frequently in high-stakes games.
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been shown to compete with people for increasingly complex tasks. However, little is known about how AI may complement human labor. We propose that interacting with AI can benefit human skill development and provide evidence for this by studying the first large-scale adoption of AI: the emergence of chess computers in the late 1970s. We hypothesize that chess computers provide anytime, private training and experimentation opportunities with positive effect on human player performance in tournaments. We exploit the unavailability of chess computers in the Soviet Union until its collapse as a natural experiment for chess computer adoption. We find evidence that chess computers had a positive effect on human player performance, but this effect depends on whether the available AI represented a sufficiently strong sparring partner. Human players with access to on par chess computers became more competitive and experienced a faster increase in skill level. Furthermore, they started to play more diverse and introduced new strategies more frequently in high-stakes games.
Practical information
- General public
- Free