Eastern District Court Sentences Baduk Player to 1 Year Imprisonment for Using AI Cheating in Entrance Tournament

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A professional Go player who committed fraud using an artificial intelligence (AI) Go program during a professional Go entrance tournament was sentenced to one year in prison.

Judge Park Jung-gil of Criminal Division 11 at the Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced Mr. A, who committed fraud at the professional Go player entrance tournament held in Seongdong-gu last January, to one year in prison with a two-year probation and ordered 120 hours of community service.

Mr. A secretly filmed the Go board during the match using a small camera and transmitted the footage. Mr. B, who was waiting at a nearby PC cafe, input the data into the AI Go program 'Leela Zero' and informed Mr. A of the next 5 to 6 moves through a wireless earphone worn by Mr. A.

The court stated, "Mr. A committed the crime in a planned and intelligent manner through prior collusion with the purpose of becoming a professional player," and added, "The crime severely undermines the fairness of the tournament and disrupts its operation, making the nature of the offense very serious."

Furthermore, the court noted, "The fairness of the preliminary and main preliminary matches held before the second match of the main tournament, where the crime was detected, was realistically compromised," and added, "Consideration was also given to the circumstances after the crime, such as the disposal of key evidence."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.