Home > Business > Tech

Can't stop AI in Go

Published: 09 Mar. 2026, 19:36 Updated: 09 Mar. 2026, 20:05

Go master Lee Se-dol demonstrates an agentic AI-based Go model during an event hosted by AI startup Enhans at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 9. [JUN MIN-KYU]

Lee Se-dol, a retired professional Go player, spoke about the future of artificial intelligence and the game, called baduk in Korean, while demonstrating an AI model specializing in Go during an event hosted by AI startup Enhans on Monday.

The event was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul — the same venue where Lee’s historic match against the AI program AlphaGo took place 10 years ago.

“Ten years ago, we competed against AI. Now we are entering an era of collaboration,” Lee said. “If AI is used in Go education, it could lower entry barriers to learning the game.”

Go master Lee Se-dol demonstrates an agentic AI-based Go model during an event hosted by AI startup Enhans at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 9. [JUN MIN-KYU]

Lee took part in a demonstration in which he asked Enhans’s AI agent, using natural language, to create a Go program. The AI completed the task in about 20 minutes. After exchanging several moves with the program, Lee commented, “It doesn’t seem like something a human could beat. It feels stronger than AlphaGo.”

Watching the AI play almost instantly without hesitation, Lee added, “You can clearly tell from the speed that it isn’t human.”

Recalling his experiences playing against AI after retiring, Lee said he had never played an even game against it. “Even when I started with a two-stone handicap, I still lost,” he said. “Later, we tried a match where the AI had a 20-second time limit while I had unlimited time, and I was barely able to win.”

Reporters film and take photos as Go master Lee Se-dol demonstrates a Go model built using agentic AI during an event hosted by AI startup Enhans at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 9. [JUN MIN-KYU]

BY KIM HYUN-DONG [[email protected]]