Lee Sedol, a 9-dan Go master, is revisiting the site of his historic match against the artificial intelligence AlphaGo on the 9th of this month, but this time, he is not competing against AI; instead, he is utilizing it to create a 'Go model'. He will participate in an event hosted by the AI startup Enhance at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul. This marks a full circle moment since it was here on March 9, 2016, that Lee faced off against AlphaGo, defying expectations that a human could win against it. Despite predictions in favor of Lee, AlphaGo overwhelmed him with a score of 4 to 1, shocking the world and leading to the term 'AlphaGo Shock'.

The aftermath of the AlphaGo match spurred increased interest from both the industry and the public in AI technologies, leading to various applications in the IT service sector, including the launch of Naver's AI translation service, Papago. However, despite the rise in AI applications, most remained in specialized fields and struggled to be transformative on a larger scale. The landscape shifted significantly with the introduction of OpenAI's generative AI, ChatGPT, in November 2022, which improved the way AI learns contextual information. This generative AI era has allowed machines to produce original results, leading to rapid advancements and increased productivity.

In recent months, new AI models have been released at an impressive pace of 1-2 months, driven by major tech companies harnessing these advancements. As Lee Sedol embarks on this new project to develop an AI-based Go model, his journey reflects both the evolution of AI in competitive environments and the broader cultural and technological shifts that have come in the years following his memorable match with AlphaGo.