It was seen as a charm offensive launched by Google toward Chinese officials, being part of effort to reopen China's market.
Gu Li, an eight-time world champion, and Lian Xiao, the current Chinese Mingren and Tianyuan titles holder, each had their own AlphaGo teammate, alternating moves in tag team style.
This pair Go game provided a glimpse of how human players might be able to use AI tools in the future, benefiting from the computer's insights while also relying on their own intuition.
In this five-on-one match, five world champion players, Chen Yaoye, Zhou Ruiyang, Mi Yuting, Shi Yue, and Tang Weixing (black), joined forces to play against AlphaGo (white).
[citation needed] Consulting each other on every move, the human team approached the challenge in a light-hearted manner, obviously enjoying the experience of playing together.
[24] Eric Schmidt, the Executive Chairman of DeepMind's parent company Alphabet, Inc. tweeted: "This speaks volumes about where AI is headed - human players are teaming up with AlphaGo to have even more fun with the game!".
The restrictions caused widespread complaints among Chinese netizens on the social platform Sina Weibo.