A very good contrast the IBM-Gary Kasparov match 20 years ago, and the AlphaGo-Lee Sedol match last year.

AlphaGo did not need to resort to any of the tactics that IBM used to distract, deceive, and ultimately destroy Kasparov. The human champion, Lee Sedol, ended with respect for his opponent and awe for how far AI had come. But though the match deservedly received attention, it was nowhere near as mythic as the Deep Blue match was. The ground has shifted. Given enough time, money, and machine learning, there’s no cognitive obstacle that machines will not surmount.