Chinese tech companies are developing their own versions of AlphaGo, a computer program developed by Google DeepMind that beat 9-dan professional Go player Lee Sedol last year. But these Chinese programs have a long way to go before reaching AlphaGo’s perfect win record versus humans, Chinese state media reported.

A number of artificial intelligence player are already dominating competition on Chinese Internet Go game platforms. One online player named Jue Yi, which is reportedly an artificial intelligence player developed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., has been competing with human players since last November. It won 23 of 28 games it played during a two-day period earlier this week; a far less impressive performance than AlphaGo’s 60:0 all-win record.

Two other IDs, Xing Tian and Li Long, are also believed to be AI Go players developed by unidentified Chinese tech companies, according to the report. All three are now listed among the top 15 players on a major online Go playing platform in China, with Li Long the best performer with 229 wins and 33 losses. Jue Yi has 171 wins and 71 losses while Xing Tian has 38 wins and 7 losses.

"Chinese technology still needs to improve," said Professor Liu Zhiqing at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "Currently, our objective is to learn from the dissertations related to AlphaGo and trying to close the gap with Google DeepMind."

Not all tech companies in China are so focused on Go playing. Robin Li, Baidu Inc’s founder and chief executive, said last year that his company would spend it resources on markets with great potential, not developing computer programs playing a board games.

Irrespective of Mr. Li’s sentiment, AlphaGo’s historic win last year has prompted numerous countries and companies to develop similar programs.

Facebook developed DarkForest, which won runner-up in a computer Go game competition in Tokyo last year. Japan’s ZEN was able to win one game with a well-known Korean Go player Cho Chikun. France’s CrazyStone and Korean’s AI Go programs have also made significant progress.