中国网友：“阿尔法狗”敢挑战麻将么？

Glib Chinese web users have raised a challenge to the AI program that recently dethroned one of the top human Go players, demanding tongue-in-cheek that the AlphaGo program learn the nation's real pastime - mahjong.

人工智能程序“阿尔法围棋”打败世界顶级围棋选手后，好事的中国网友向其发起挑战，戏称：应该让“阿尔法围棋”学习一下另一项更具有中国特色的娱乐活动——麻将。

China's reaction toward the historic duel between human and artificial intelligence has been mixed. At first, there were questions on why the human player did not come from China, where the game was invented more than 2,500 years ago.

中国人对这一历史性的“人机大战”反响不一。首先，有人提出质疑，为何“阿尔法围棋”不是与中国选手对战，毕竟围棋起源于2500多年前的中国。

Then, as AlphaGo marked three victories in the five-game match, defiant web users began calling for a challenge in an arena average Chinese are more comfortable in.

其次，“阿尔法围棋”四比一打败李世石后，网友们开始向它发起另一个普通中国人都熟悉的游戏挑战。

"Can AI beat mahjong masters?" was posted several times in the comment section of stories about the AlphaGo-Lee Sedol match on Chinese microblog Sina Weibo, where they attracted a deluge of comments defending humanity' glory in mahjong.

“人工智能打麻将的话也能赢吗？”在关于“阿尔法围棋”与李世石之战的新浪微博下面，这条评论多次出现，进而激起了网友们试图通过麻将之战挽回人类尊严的评论热潮。

Mahjong, China's answer to poker, is usually played by four people. Each turn, players draw tiles from a 144-tile pool, discard or intercept others' to form sets of tiles that can win. Scientists say compared with Go, mahjong has far fewer permutations for AI calculation, but involves a degree of chance and other factors in favor of humans.

麻将类似于扑克，通常四人能凑一桌。每局中，四人从144张牌中取牌，通过出牌或吃牌将自己的牌凑成一定组合后可以赢得牌局。科学家称，与围棋的可通过计算实现的排列不同，麻将影响胜负的因素很多，比如运气等。人类在这方面会更胜一筹。

"Sometimes with a glimpse of the other player's facial expression, I know how he or she is going to play. Can AI do that?" asked one blogger.

“有时候看看其他人的表情，我就知道他/她要怎么打，人工智能（AI）可以吗？”一位微博用户问道。

"Unlike Go, mahjong is not a quiet game that focuses on calculation. It involves a lot of interactions and teamwork between players," another blogger commented.

“麻将不同于围棋，麻将不仅需要计算，它还包含玩家间的交流和团队协作，”另一位用户评论称。

Some netizens described mahjong as a competition on both IQ and EQ. Computers can undoubtedly blow humans out of water in math, but how about their ability of communication and interpreting emotions?

一些网民称麻将是智商与情商的双重较量。毫无疑问，计算机能在计算方面完败人类，但它们交流和分析他人情绪的能力又如何呢？

Sense and sensibility

理智与情感

Scientists have advised against exaggerating AI's prowess after the Go victory. In the gaming field alone, AI researchers agree that computers, in their current stage, may not be able to beat humans in games that feature a high level of irrationality, including understanding of feelings and creativity.

“阿尔法围棋”获胜后，科学家们认为没必要过分夸大人工智能的水平。相关研究人员表示，目前的计算机在非常规游戏上可能还是无法击败人类，因为这些游戏需要理解力和创造力。

"AlphaGo's learning and calculation prowess is based on formulas and data, but mahjong involves luck and emotions. To my knowledge, no AI is powerful enough to manage them," said Ren Yi, an expert on computer game AI and CEO of a Nanjing-based tech company.

电子游戏人工智能专家、南京一家科技公司的CEO任毅称：“‘阿尔法围棋’的学习和计算技术都是基于公式和数据，但麻将更多地体现了运气和情绪因素。据我所知，还没有人工智能能够做到这点。”

Feng Jianfeng, chief scientist for a brain science and AI project launched by the city of Shanghai, also refused to bet on AI's definitive victory over human mahjong masters, as the game involves more human intelligence than calculation.

上海脑科学与人工智能重大项目首席科学家冯建峰，也认为人工智能与在麻将上不一定能获胜，因为相对于计算能力，麻将更需要人类的智慧。

"AlphaGo's structure and arithmetic only emulates some primary functions of human brains, not including emotions, decision making, attention and creativity," Feng said. "It has just done something computers are very good at. It is a landmark and will greatly boost AI development, but AI still has a long way to go."

“‘阿尔法围棋’依赖的结构和算法只是模拟了人脑的一些初级功能，但是如情感、决策、注意力、创造性等它都没有涉及。”冯说。“它只是做了计算机擅长的。这次人机大战是个里程碑，它将大大促进人工智能的发展，但人工智能还有很长一段路要走。”

Feng's team is studying Alzheimer's disease with the help of AI, but defying public expectations of AI supplementing patients' declining brain abilities, Feng said what computers could do so far was helping make more accurate diagnoses by navigating through big data.

冯建峰的团队正在利用人工智能帮助研究阿尔兹海默症（俗称“痴呆症”），但他表示，要人工智能填补病人逐渐丧失的脑功能是不可能的，目前计算机能做到的，只是通过大数据更精确地诊断病情。

The disease affects tens of millions of elderly people worldwide and has no effective cure, though medical experts say playing games that activate brains could help with the prevention.

世界范围内有数以千万计的老人正在遭受阿尔兹海默症的困扰，目前仍然没有有效的治疗办法，虽然有医学专家称，通过可以刺激大脑的游戏可能预防这种疾病。

So for those worrying about the disease, the Chinese advice would be, instead of pinning hopes on AI, to sit with friends and enjoy a game of mahjong.

所以中国人给你的建议就是：如果担心自己患阿尔兹海默症，别抱希望于人工智能了，快邀上朋友们一起愉快的打麻将吧。