On this day in 1997, Garry Kasparov, the world's top chess player, faced off against IBM's chess-playing supercomputer, Deep Blue — and lost. This week, professional poker players are trying something similar in Pittsburgh, and they're winning.
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Transcript
ARUN RATH, HOST:
Last night, Mayweather and Pacquiao - big fight - blah, blah, blah - who cares? Humans fight humans all the time. But 18 years ago today, a really interesting face off - world chess champion Garry Kasparov versus supercomputer Deep Blue.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GARRY KASPAROV: It's a machine, and, you know, they're stupid.
RATH: Famous last words - the machine won. But there is hope for humanity - for right now, in Pittsburgh, professional poker players are competing against another computer. And so far, they're winning.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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