"Ask me anything": Garry Kasparov at Reddit

Q&A with Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov: Apart from being the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985, and the world’s top-rated player for 20 years, many also know me from my matches against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue, which put AI (and chess) on front pages around the world. I was a sore loser then, but decided that if you can’t beat’em, join’em. So I’ve been speaking about AI and future tech at public events and conferences such as Vivatech worldwide. In 2016, I became a Security Ambassador for Avast Software, where I discuss cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, freedom online and the digital future. You can find my blogposts for Avast here.

I am also chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and the Renew Democracy Initiative. I have written two acclaimed series of chess books and three mainstream books: How Life Imitates Chess, Winter Is Coming and Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins. A fourth book is in progress right now.

Ask me anything about the intersection of rights and social media in the age of increasingly intelligent machines, privacy, and how AI is affecting our digital lives.

About this AMA: This AMA has been organized with Viva Technology, The 2021 edition will take place on June 16-19, both in-person in beautiful Paris and online worldwide. To keep you waiting until June, several past and future VivaTech speakers, game-changers from the tech, innovation and science sectors will take part in an AMA to answer your questions about how innovation will impact our future. You can also follow VivaTech on Twitter or Instagram.

BerimboloMaster: What do you think of the evolution of chess from 2000 to today? How do you think it’ll evolve in the future?

Players get better, we understand more, it goes on forever. The game isn't going anywhere, it's more popular than ever, and people will always want to know who is the strongest human so machines aren't going to "kill" it or whatever. People still hold their breath when the 100m dash is run, or even the marathon. It's about human competition and spirit.

Thebunin: Hi Gary ! What would you say are the most common misapplications and misunderstandings of AI by humans, both in chess as well as outside of it?

To pick the biggest one, it's that AI is a threat instead of a powerful technology like any other that is agnostic, and good or bad depending how we use it. It's a very harmful outlook, because we need to be more ambitious and more optimistic so we invest more, learn more, and get the benefits, not just suffer the slow-moving consequences of disruption and automation.

ballthyrm: While you are well known for your fight against Deep Blue, I found "Kasparov versus the World" a lot more interesting. Do you think there is a lot of research and systems to be developed to allow humans to collaborate that way just as they did in this match against you?

Great question, and while the "wisdom of the crowds" isn't really so effective in expert systems like chess, it was a pioneering experiment in real life for crowdsourcing and combining human and machine thinking and coordination in real time.

Lukenzz: Hi Mr.Garry. I want to recall your match against Topalov in 1999. With all due respect, have you really predicted all the moves before capturing the rook on h8 ?

Yes, I had to see the rook was hanging on h8 to play it. The moment I played 24.Rxd4 I visualized the position after 37.Rd7. Not every single move or variation between, of course, but that final key moment came to me like lightning.

vaperboy1337: Hey Gary! What is your greatest passion besides chess? Greetings from Austria :)

Chess is a jealous mistress! No insult to my wife and family, who are of course my top passion, but no I don't have any other big objects of attention other than consuming information.

herpDerpSlerpaWerp: Do you think current era chess champions like Magnus have the staying power to match or exceed your time as champion for 20+ years?

Highly unlikely, although Magnus clearly has the requisite talents of creativity and discipline. But elite chess keeps getting more competitive, with more players from more places, more events, as well as more distractions and opportunities. I was 42 and still ranked number one when I retired in 2005, feeling like I had no more to achieve in the chess world. 10 more years is a long time, but if Magnus stays hungry, and it is still making him happy, perhaps with the rise of a top challenger to keep him interested, he might. But the pace of change is his enemy so I'm skeptical.

The complete AMA with Garry Kasparov at Reddit...

Links

• Ask me anything with Hikaru Nakamura
• Ask me anything with Magnus Carlsen