Go legend defeated by AI warns of the tech’s harmful impacts
By Ryan General
Lee Se-dol, renowned for his 18 world championships in the strategic board game Go, voiced concerns about the negative impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) in a recent interview. The 41-year-old South Korean, who famously lost to Google DeepMind’s AI program AlphaGo in 2016, highlighted potential consequences beyond the game of Go, such as diminishing appreciation for human creativity and originality, as well as job displacement.
- Turning point: Lee’s encounter with AI, which he has called “an entity that cannot be defeated,” marked a turning point in both his career and the public perception of AI’s capabilities. The 2016 match, where AlphaGo defeated Lee in four out of five games, sent shockwaves through the Go community and beyond, demonstrating AI’s potential to surpass even the most skilled human players.
- Advocacy for better AI integration: Since retiring in 2019, Lee has become an advocate for AI education, emphasizing the importance of a balanced approach to technology integration. “I faced the issues of AI early, but it will happen for others,” Lee told The New York Times. “It may not be a happy ending. People used to be in awe of creativity, originality, and innovation. But since AI came, a lot of that has disappeared.”
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