Cheating with the score estimator

[yebellz]

@Gia

I strongly suggest a good, reliable SE would be useful for the scoring phase .

I agree that it would be useful to have a good score estimator for the scoring phase as well.

Use KataGo for Scoring

When a game reaches the scoring phase, the system generates an initial estimate of which stones are dead and which are alive. However, it seems that the current algorithm sometimes makes mistakes, which occasionally leads to the players mistakenly accepting the wrong life/death status and messing up the outcome of their games. Even worse, for games against bots, the scoring is completely automated, with no ability for the human player to correct scoring mistakes, and the only way to avoid scori…

However, having AI help during scoring is much narrower than allowing players to query a strong AI during the game. Of course, players could potentially resume a game to exploit some knowledge gained from the AI during scoring, but I think that’s a much lower risk, since it requires both players to first pass, in belief that the game is already settled.

Key to these issues is striking a balance between user convenience and competition purity. I think using a scoring estimator during the game is essentially a form of AI assistance, but it’s accepted on OGS only because it has long been the norm and the estimator is very poor. Note that the score estimator will even provide an estimate after playing out one or more moves in a variation. If the score estimator wasn’t terrible, one could essentially use the tool to provide advice on what one’s next move should be.