Speaker
Description
How can artificial intelligence master chess, and what can we learn from it as engineers? In this two-part presentation series, we dive into the inner workings of Google DeepMind’s AlphaZero algorithm and its groundbreaking approach to playing chess through self-learning and deep reinforcement learning. Along the way, we shift our focus from theory to practice by demonstrating how to implement a high-performance chess move generator in the Rust programming language.
This hands-on journey is more than just about chess. It’s a call to appreciate the power of systems-level thinking — bitwise operations, data efficiency, and smart tooling — core concepts often underemphasized in today’s Python-dominated programming education. Rust serves not only as a vehicle for safe and performant systems programming but also as a compelling alternative in contexts where control, concurrency, and correctness truly matter.
Whether you’re passionate about AI — not only in the context of large language models or generative pre-trained transformers — intrigued by how chess engines work, or curious about using the right tool for the job, this talk aims to inspire you to explore the full spectrum of computer engineering possibilities.
