TED2017
Garry Kasparov: Don't fear intelligent machines. Work with them
Filmed:
Readability: 4.7
1,595,117 views
We must face our fears if we want to get the most out of technology -- and we must conquer those fears if we want to get the best out of humanity, says Garry Kasparov. One of the greatest chess players in history, Kasparov lost a memorable match to IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1997. Now he shares his vision for a future where intelligent machines help us turn our grandest dreams into reality.
Garry Kasparov - Grandmaster, analyst
Garry Kasparov is esteemed by many as the greatest chess player of all time. Now he’s engaged in a game with far higher stakes: the preservation of democracy. Full bio
Garry Kasparov is esteemed by many as the greatest chess player of all time. Now he’s engaged in a game with far higher stakes: the preservation of democracy. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
This story begins in 1985,
0
960
2976
00:15
when at age 22,
1
3960
1976
00:17
I became the World Chess Champion
2
5960
2376
00:20
after beating Anatoly Karpov.
3
8360
3200
00:24
Earlier that year,
4
12480
1256
00:25
I played what is called
simultaneous exhibition
simultaneous exhibition
5
13760
3616
00:29
against 32 of the world's
best chess-playing machines
best chess-playing machines
6
17400
4296
00:33
in Hamburg, Germany.
7
21720
1360
00:36
I won all the games,
8
24160
1200
00:38
and then it was not considered
much of a surprise
much of a surprise
9
26560
3176
00:41
that I could beat 32 computers
at the same time.
at the same time.
10
29760
4040
00:46
To me, that was the golden age.
11
34480
2576
00:49
(Laughter)
12
37080
2096
00:51
Machines were weak,
13
39200
1520
00:53
and my hair was strong.
14
41680
1336
00:55
(Laughter)
15
43040
2200
00:58
Just 12 years later,
16
46720
2056
01:00
I was fighting for my life
against just one computer
against just one computer
17
48800
4616
01:05
in a match
18
53440
1200
01:07
called by the cover of "Newsweek"
19
55360
2056
01:09
"The Brain's Last Stand."
20
57440
1776
01:11
No pressure.
21
59240
1216
01:12
(Laughter)
22
60480
1520
01:15
From mythology to science fiction,
23
63040
2576
01:17
human versus machine
24
65640
2736
01:20
has been often portrayed
as a matter of life and death.
as a matter of life and death.
25
68400
2760
01:23
John Henry,
26
71960
1576
01:25
called the steel-driving man
27
73560
1696
01:27
in the 19th century
African American folk legend,
African American folk legend,
28
75280
3776
01:31
was pitted in a race
29
79080
1376
01:32
against a steam-powered hammer
30
80480
2736
01:35
bashing a tunnel through mountain rock.
31
83240
2360
01:38
John Henry's legend
is a part of a long historical narrative
is a part of a long historical narrative
32
86800
4200
01:43
pitting humanity versus technology.
33
91680
3080
01:48
And this competitive rhetoric
is standard now.
is standard now.
34
96200
2880
01:51
We are in a race against the machines,
35
99560
1960
01:54
in a fight or even in a war.
36
102360
2080
01:57
Jobs are being killed off.
37
105880
1616
01:59
People are being replaced
as if they had vanished from the Earth.
as if they had vanished from the Earth.
38
107520
3560
02:04
It's enough to think that the movies
like "The Terminator" or "The Matrix"
like "The Terminator" or "The Matrix"
39
112240
3496
02:07
are nonfiction.
40
115760
1200
02:11
There are very few instances of an arena
41
119640
4320
02:17
where the human body and mind
can compete on equal terms
can compete on equal terms
42
125360
4256
02:21
with a computer or a robot.
43
129639
1841
02:24
Actually, I wish there were a few more.
44
132280
1858
02:27
Instead,
45
135760
1200
02:29
it was my blessing and my curse
46
137840
4656
02:34
to literally become the proverbial man
47
142520
2696
02:37
in the man versus machine competition
48
145240
3096
02:40
that everybody is still talking about.
49
148360
1880
02:45
In the most famous human-machine
competition since John Henry,
competition since John Henry,
50
153120
5016
02:50
I played two matches
51
158160
2576
02:52
against the IBM supercomputer, Deep Blue.
52
160760
3440
02:59
Nobody remembers
that I won the first match --
that I won the first match --
53
167040
2176
03:01
(Laughter)
54
169240
2336
03:03
(Applause)
55
171600
3400
03:07
In Philadelphia, before losing the rematch
the following year in New York.
the following year in New York.
56
175920
4976
03:12
But I guess that's fair.
57
180920
1760
03:16
There is no day in history,
special calendar entry
special calendar entry
58
184320
5096
03:21
for all the people
who failed to climb Mt. Everest
who failed to climb Mt. Everest
59
189440
3496
03:24
before Sir Edmund Hillary
and Tenzing Norgay
and Tenzing Norgay
60
192960
2736
03:27
made it to the top.
61
195720
1200
03:29
And in 1997, I was still
the world champion
the world champion
62
197960
3760
03:36
when chess computers finally came of age.
63
204520
4200
03:41
I was Mt. Everest,
64
209520
1976
03:43
and Deep Blue reached the summit.
65
211520
1600
03:46
I should say of course,
not that Deep Blue did it,
not that Deep Blue did it,
66
214600
4056
03:50
but its human creators --
67
218680
2136
03:52
Anantharaman, Campbell, Hoane, Hsu.
68
220840
3336
03:56
Hats off to them.
69
224200
1200
03:58
As always, machine's triumph
was a human triumph,
was a human triumph,
70
226840
4416
04:03
something we tend to forget when humans
are surpassed by our own creations.
are surpassed by our own creations.
71
231280
4760
04:10
Deep Blue was victorious,
72
238360
1440
04:13
but was it intelligent?
73
241400
1200
04:15
No, no it wasn't,
74
243360
1760
04:18
at least not in the way Alan Turing
and other founders of computer science
and other founders of computer science
75
246200
5056
04:23
had hoped.
76
251280
1200
04:25
It turned out that chess
could be crunched by brute force,
could be crunched by brute force,
77
253240
4776
04:30
once hardware got fast enough
78
258040
4256
04:34
and algorithms got smart enough.
79
262320
2960
04:38
Although by the definition of the output,
80
266760
3696
04:42
grandmaster-level chess,
81
270480
3216
04:45
Deep Blue was intelligent.
82
273720
1280
04:49
But even at the incredible speed,
83
277320
2400
04:52
200 million positions per second,
84
280560
3200
04:57
Deep Blue's method
85
285360
1200
04:59
provided little of the dreamed-of insight
into the mysteries of human intelligence.
into the mysteries of human intelligence.
86
287360
6600
05:08
Soon,
87
296960
1816
05:10
machines will be taxi drivers
88
298800
2576
05:13
and doctors and professors,
89
301400
2416
05:15
but will they be "intelligent?"
90
303840
2600
05:19
I would rather leave these definitions
91
307840
2496
05:22
to the philosophers and to the dictionary.
92
310360
3560
05:27
What really matters is how we humans
93
315440
3880
05:32
feel about living and working
with these machines.
with these machines.
94
320320
3600
05:38
When I first met Deep Blue
in 1996 in February,
in 1996 in February,
95
326160
5256
05:43
I had been the world champion
for more than 10 years,
for more than 10 years,
96
331440
2600
05:48
and I had played 182
world championship games
world championship games
97
336080
4016
05:52
and hundreds of games against
other top players in other competitions.
other top players in other competitions.
98
340120
5096
05:57
I knew what to expect from my opponents
99
345240
5056
06:02
and what to expect from myself.
100
350320
1680
06:04
I was used to measure their moves
101
352680
5176
06:09
and to gauge their emotional state
102
357880
3616
06:13
by watching their body language
and looking into their eyes.
and looking into their eyes.
103
361520
3840
06:17
And then I sat across
the chessboard from Deep Blue.
the chessboard from Deep Blue.
104
365880
4000
06:24
I immediately sensed something new,
105
372960
2856
06:27
something unsettling.
106
375840
1320
06:31
You might experience a similar feeling
107
379440
2800
06:35
the first time you ride
in a driverless car
in a driverless car
108
383320
2536
06:37
or the first time your new computer
manager issues an order at work.
manager issues an order at work.
109
385880
4840
06:45
But when I sat at that first game,
110
393800
3120
06:50
I couldn't be sure
111
398080
2136
06:52
what is this thing capable of.
112
400240
3680
06:56
Technology can advance in leaps,
and IBM had invested heavily.
and IBM had invested heavily.
113
404920
3160
07:00
I lost that game.
114
408680
1200
07:04
And I couldn't help wondering,
115
412320
1776
07:06
might it be invincible?
116
414120
1560
07:08
Was my beloved game of chess over?
117
416600
2360
07:12
These were human doubts, human fears,
118
420800
4136
07:16
and the only thing I knew for sure
119
424960
1680
07:19
was that my opponent Deep Blue
had no such worries at all.
had no such worries at all.
120
427400
2896
07:22
(Laughter)
121
430320
1760
07:25
I fought back
122
433920
1400
07:28
after this devastating blow
123
436400
1680
07:31
to win the first match,
124
439000
1200
07:32
but the writing was on the wall.
125
440960
1640
07:36
I eventually lost to the machine
126
444400
2136
07:38
but I didn't suffer the fate of John Henry
127
446560
3056
07:41
who won but died
with his hammer in his hand.
with his hammer in his hand.
128
449640
3040
07:49
It turned out that the world of chess
129
457720
2536
07:52
still wanted to have
a human chess champion.
a human chess champion.
130
460280
3240
07:56
And even today,
131
464920
1680
08:00
when a free chess app
on the latest mobile phone
on the latest mobile phone
132
468080
3456
08:03
is stronger than Deep Blue,
133
471560
2016
08:05
people are still playing chess,
134
473600
1480
08:08
even more than ever before.
135
476680
2240
08:11
Doomsayers predicted
that nobody would touch the game
that nobody would touch the game
136
479800
3216
08:15
that could be conquered by the machine,
137
483040
2256
08:17
and they were wrong, proven wrong,
138
485320
2216
08:19
but doomsaying has always been
a popular pastime
a popular pastime
139
487560
3456
08:23
when it comes to technology.
140
491040
1360
08:26
What I learned from my own experience
141
494360
2736
08:29
is that we must face our fears
142
497120
4656
08:33
if we want to get the most
out of our technology,
out of our technology,
143
501800
3720
08:38
and we must conquer those fears
144
506360
2376
08:40
if we want to get the best
out of our humanity.
out of our humanity.
145
508760
5240
08:48
While licking my wounds,
146
516120
1775
08:49
I got a lot of inspiration
147
517919
1961
08:53
from my battles against Deep Blue.
148
521080
2695
08:55
As the old Russian saying goes,
if you can't beat them, join them.
if you can't beat them, join them.
149
523799
3121
09:00
Then I thought,
150
528880
1376
09:02
what if I could play with a computer --
151
530280
2336
09:04
together with a computer at my side,
combining our strengths,
combining our strengths,
152
532640
3160
09:09
human intuition
plus machine's calculation,
plus machine's calculation,
153
537160
3776
09:12
human strategy, machine tactics,
154
540960
2696
09:15
human experience, machine's memory.
155
543680
2416
09:18
Could it be the perfect game ever played?
156
546120
2200
09:22
My idea came to life
157
550000
1680
09:24
in 1998 under the name of Advanced Chess
158
552920
3376
09:28
when I played this human-plus-machine
competition against another elite player.
competition against another elite player.
159
556320
5680
09:35
But in this first experiment,
160
563280
1896
09:37
we both failed to combine
human and machine skills effectively.
human and machine skills effectively.
161
565200
6360
09:46
Advanced Chess found
its home on the internet,
its home on the internet,
162
574920
2240
09:50
and in 2005, a so-called
freestyle chess tournament
freestyle chess tournament
163
578160
4856
09:55
produced a revelation.
164
583040
1360
09:59
A team of grandmasters
and top machines participated,
and top machines participated,
165
587240
3536
10:02
but the winners were not grandmasters,
166
590800
2736
10:05
not a supercomputer.
167
593560
1360
10:07
The winners were a pair
of amateur American chess players
of amateur American chess players
168
595680
4336
10:12
operating three ordinary PCs
at the same time.
at the same time.
169
600040
3160
10:17
Their skill of coaching their machines
170
605560
3016
10:20
effectively counteracted
the superior chess knowledge
the superior chess knowledge
171
608600
5776
10:26
of their grandmaster opponents
172
614400
1576
10:28
and much greater
computational power of others.
computational power of others.
173
616000
4160
10:33
And I reached this formulation.
174
621600
1960
10:36
A weak human player plus a machine
175
624560
3376
10:39
plus a better process is superior
176
627960
3256
10:43
to a very powerful machine alone,
177
631240
2416
10:45
but more remarkably,
is superior to a strong human player
is superior to a strong human player
178
633680
3896
10:49
plus machine
179
637600
1960
10:53
and an inferior process.
180
641120
2400
10:58
This convinced me that we would need
181
646360
2120
11:02
better interfaces
to help us coach our machines
to help us coach our machines
182
650000
3680
11:06
towards more useful intelligence.
183
654520
1720
11:10
Human plus machine isn't the future,
184
658320
3296
11:13
it's the present.
185
661640
1216
11:14
Everybody that's used online translation
186
662880
4136
11:19
to get the gist of a news article
from a foreign newspaper,
from a foreign newspaper,
187
667040
4296
11:23
knowing its far from perfect.
188
671360
1640
11:25
Then we use our human experience
189
673680
2096
11:27
to make sense out of that,
190
675800
2096
11:29
and then the machine
learns from our corrections.
learns from our corrections.
191
677920
2776
11:32
This model is spreading and investing
in medical diagnosis, security analysis.
in medical diagnosis, security analysis.
192
680720
4960
11:38
The machine crunches data,
193
686440
2120
11:41
calculates probabilities,
194
689320
1736
11:43
gets 80 percent of the way, 90 percent,
195
691080
3656
11:46
making it easier for analysis
196
694760
4376
11:51
and decision-making of the human party.
197
699160
2600
11:54
But you are not going to send your kids
198
702280
4840
12:00
to school in a self-driving car
with 90 percent accuracy,
with 90 percent accuracy,
199
708000
3560
12:04
even with 99 percent.
200
712600
1600
12:07
So we need a leap forward
201
715560
2856
12:10
to add a few more crucial decimal places.
202
718440
6160
12:19
Twenty years after
my match with Deep Blue,
my match with Deep Blue,
203
727160
4040
12:24
second match,
204
732200
1616
12:25
this sensational
"The Brain's Last Stand" headline
"The Brain's Last Stand" headline
205
733840
6296
12:32
has become commonplace
206
740160
1576
12:33
as intelligent machines
207
741760
2536
12:36
move
208
744320
1200
12:38
in every sector, seemingly every day.
209
746560
2200
12:42
But unlike in the past,
210
750160
3096
12:45
when machines replaced
211
753280
1640
12:48
farm animals, manual labor,
212
756480
2376
12:50
now they are coming
after people with college degrees
after people with college degrees
213
758880
2496
12:53
and political influence.
214
761400
1280
12:56
And as someone
who fought machines and lost,
who fought machines and lost,
215
764120
2096
12:58
I am here to tell you
this is excellent, excellent news.
this is excellent, excellent news.
216
766240
2640
13:03
Eventually, every profession
217
771000
2216
13:05
will have to feel these pressures
218
773240
2096
13:07
or else it will mean humanity
has ceased to make progress.
has ceased to make progress.
219
775360
5600
13:14
We don't
220
782760
1200
13:17
get to choose
221
785440
1720
13:20
when and where
technological progress stops.
technological progress stops.
222
788480
2720
13:25
We cannot
223
793160
1360
13:27
slow down.
224
795960
1496
13:29
In fact,
225
797480
1816
13:31
we have to speed up.
226
799320
1920
13:36
Our technology excels at removing
227
804600
2640
13:41
difficulties and uncertainties
from our lives,
from our lives,
228
809200
3360
13:47
and so we must seek out
229
815000
2816
13:49
ever more difficult,
230
817840
1856
13:51
ever more uncertain challenges.
231
819720
4080
14:00
Machines have
232
828200
1200
14:03
calculations.
233
831880
1816
14:05
We have understanding.
234
833720
1576
14:07
Machines have instructions.
235
835320
2040
14:10
We have purpose.
236
838840
1856
14:12
Machines have
237
840720
2280
14:17
objectivity.
238
845080
1216
14:18
We have passion.
239
846320
1200
14:20
We should not worry
about what our machines can do today.
about what our machines can do today.
240
848600
5976
14:26
Instead, we should worry
about what they still cannot do today,
about what they still cannot do today,
241
854600
4576
14:31
because we will need the help
of the new, intelligent machines
of the new, intelligent machines
242
859200
5496
14:36
to turn our grandest dreams into reality.
243
864720
4080
14:42
And if we fail,
244
870000
1320
14:44
if we fail, it's not because our machines
are too intelligent,
are too intelligent,
245
872240
4656
14:48
or not intelligent enough.
246
876920
1400
14:51
If we fail, it's because
we grew complacent
we grew complacent
247
879200
3080
14:55
and limited our ambitions.
248
883680
1560
14:58
Our humanity is not defined by any skill,
249
886520
3040
15:03
like swinging a hammer
or even playing chess.
or even playing chess.
250
891280
2680
15:06
There's one thing only a human can do.
251
894560
3016
15:09
That's dream.
252
897600
1200
15:12
So let us dream big.
253
900120
2536
15:14
Thank you.
254
902680
1216
15:15
(Applause)
255
903920
3887
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Garry Kasparov - Grandmaster, analystGarry Kasparov is esteemed by many as the greatest chess player of all time. Now he’s engaged in a game with far higher stakes: the preservation of democracy.
Why you should listen
Garry Kasparov became the youngest world champion ever at 22 in 1985 and spent twenty years as the world's top-rated player. His legendary matches against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1996 and 1997 made him a central figure in artificial intelligence and the evolution of the human-machine relationship. He retired from chess in 2005 to become a leader of the Russian pro-democracy movement against the rising dictatorship of Vladimir Putin. He is the chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation and has become a powerful voice for individual freedom worldwide. As a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, Kasparov specializes in interdisciplinary collaboration and, as he puts it, "how our technology can make us more human." He is a member of the executive board of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics.
Kasparov's latest book is Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins, which details his legendary matches against Deep Blue and shares his optimistic insights into our human plus machine future. His 2015 book Winter Is Coming detailed the rise of Putin's Russia as well as Kasparov's persecution and self-exile, and it serves chilling warnings of reactionary forces gathering in the West.
Garry Kasparov | Speaker | TED.com