Samuel's Checkers Program

Why It Was Important

Arthur Samuel's Checkers program was a milestone in machine learning. He implemented alpha-beta pruning and a scoring function based on piece position. Crucially, the program learned from its mistakes by playing thousands of games against itself, eventually reaching a level of play sufficient to challenge respectable amateurs.

Who Invented It

Arthur Samuel

IBM researcher and pioneer in machine learning.

Applications

• Machine Learning
• Reinforcement Learning
• Game State Evaluation