Scientists say computers are beginning to show signs of creativity after Google's artificial intelligence programme beat one of the world's top players of the complicated board game "Go" overnight.

The AlphaGo program beat South Korea's Lee Sedol in a best-of-five contest, who is the holder of 18 international titles.

Even the designers of the programme said they were surprised by their latest victory.

Mark Keane is Chair of Computer Science at UCD - he says it's a significant step:

"It's much more like intuition and creativity," he said.

"Several commentators have said that the machine is making moves that humans would never have made, and they turn out to be very good moves."