Deep Blue defeats Kasparov

IBM’s computer defeats the reigning world chess champion. It does not “think” like a human player: it searches enormous numbers of positions at high speed. AI returns to front-page news.

Why it is in the museum

Progress was not continuous. Periods of great expectations were followed by technical limits, disappointment and cuts in funding.

What supports this exhibit

Corporate history and technical paper

Deep Blue’s 1997 match victory over Garry Kasparov and its computational approach.

Main source: IBM, Deep Blue history; Campbell, Hoane & Hsu (2002), Artificial Intelligence.

Open the source

What to keep in mind: Well-documented historical event.

Ask the exhibit

This small guide uses only the information documented on this exhibit page. If your question goes beyond that evidence, it will say so instead of inventing an answer.

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