Lee Sedol, the professional Go player who faced artificial intelligence AlphaGo in the historic 2016 match, described the games as "a guide that presented the future in advance."
Lee, now a distinguished professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), shared his reflections in a post titled "The 10-Year Legacy of AlphaGo" published on Google Korea's official blog on the 11th.
"It sent a clear signal to humanity about how the world would change," Lee wrote. "The biggest lesson AlphaGo gave us was showing in advance that the AI era is not some vague future but a reality that would arrive soon."
Lee emphasized that while AI demonstrates "tremendous power that humans cannot possibly match" in rule-based domains like Go, certain areas remain beyond artificial intelligence's reach.
"Setting overall standards, determining direction, and making final judgments based on one's own values—that is solely the domain of humans," he said. "AlphaGo showed us the pinnacle of efficient tools while teaching us why human judgment and individuality matter even more."
Lee also expressed optimism about AI's potential to help solve scientific challenges that have eluded humanity.
"There are loud voices fearing AI development, including concerns about jobs, but I believe this is progressive change, not a process of disappearance," he said. "AI will not replace us but serve as a tool to help us leap to the next level."
In March 2016, Lee competed against Google DeepMind's AlphaGo in five matches at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, winning one game and losing four. He announced his retirement in 2019, later revealing that his defeat to AlphaGo was a significant factor in that decision.
