Hiroaki Kitano

Chief Executive Officer, Sony AI

Appears in 1 story

Born: March 16, 1961, Kawagoe

Education: International Christian University, Kyoto University

Last updated Nov 2, 2026

Stories

Robot defeats elite human players in table tennis

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As of May 2026: Oversaw the Ace program

A robot beat elite human table tennis players under official competition rules. Sony AI's system, called Ace, returned topspin and backspin shots from professionals during peer-reviewed trials published on Nature's cover April 23—reaching expert-level play for the first time in a commonly played competitive physical sport.

Updated May 31