Lee Sedol and Demis Hassabis Reunite 10 Years After the "AlphaGo Shock"... "Paving the Way for the AGI Era"

"Seoul is where the modern era of artificial intelligence (AI) began. The incredible advancements we've witnessed over the past 10 years started after the historic match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol, 9-dan professional."

Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, made these remarks during the "Google for Korea 2026" event held on the morning of April 29, 2026, at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. He was emphasizing that AI has rapidly advanced since the world-famous AlphaGo match a decade ago.

On the morning of the 29th, at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, and Lee Sedol, 9-dan Go master, held a dialogue during the "Google for Korea 2026" event. Google Korea

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The event, organized by Google Korea, was held under the theme of "The Past Decade of AI and Its Future Direction." Google for Korea is Google Korea's annual event, and this year marked its sixth edition. This year's event was specially held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match in 2016, which featured the AI Go program AlphaGo versus Lee Sedol, 9-dan professional.

The event aimed to review the changes that AI technology has brought to Korean society and industry over the past decade, while also sharing future visions led by educational innovation in Korea. Attendees included Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind; Yoon Goo, President of Google Korea; and Lee Sedol, Distinguished Professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), who had played against AlphaGo.

President Yoon described the AlphaGo match 10 years ago as "a symbolic event and historic milestone that showcased the harmony between AI's potential and human creativity." Regarding the domestic AI market, he emphasized, "Korea is the fastest-growing market for Gemini usage in the Asia-Pacific region, and 82% of users define AI as a partner that helps drive growth, making Korea an 'AI First Mover' nation."

Next, CEO Hassabis shared his thoughts on the 10th anniversary of the AlphaGo match in a dialogue with author Cho Seungyeon. He stated, "Ten years ago, right here, AlphaGo proved the potential of AI and signaled that Google had laid the technical foundation to start solving real-world scientific challenges." He added, "The technologies pioneered by Google with AlphaGo are now paving the way toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)."

Professor Lee reflected on his match against AlphaGo, describing it as "an incredible stroke of luck that became a turning point in my life." He further remarked, "Since the advent of AlphaGo and AI, everything has changed. While I had pride in playing creative Go, facing AlphaGo made me realize how limited my perspective had been."

On the morning of the 29th, at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, shook hands with Lee Sedol, 9-dan professional Go player, during the "Google for Korea 2026" event. Photo by Google Korea

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Meanwhile, President Yoon announced the launch of a unified AI education brand called "AI OLLIM." AI OLLIM plans to provide educational programs encompassing youth, developers, and startups.

During the presentation session, Carolina Parada, Senior Director of Robotics at Google DeepMind, introduced the robotics AI model "Gemini Robotics ER 1.6." Director Parada explained that "Spot," a quadrupedal robot developed in partnership with Boston Dynamics, is now equipped with Gemini, enabling it to comprehend complex human commands. She also added that through collaboration with the humanoid robot Atlas, they aim to develop the world's leading robot foundation model.

Following this, Hyunjung Choi, Senior Engineering Director at Google DeepMind, introduced "LearnLM," an AI model specialized for education, developed in collaboration with education experts. LearnLM is designed not just to provide correct answers, but to guide learners in discovering answers on their own.

Prior to the main event, Google hosted the "2026 Leaders AI Roundtable," a breakfast meeting attended by representatives from major Korean companies. This gathering included Karim Ayoub, Vice President of Google DeepMind, as well as officials from Hyundai Motor Group, LG Electronics, CJ ENM and Olive Young, and GS Retail.

Separately, CEO Hassabis met with President Lee Jaemyung on April 27 and agreed to establish a Google AI Campus in Seoul. This will be the first AI campus outside the United Kingdom, where DeepMind's headquarters is located. Google plans to build the AI campus in Korea and expand collaboration with academia, researchers, and startups. The AI Campus is expected to serve as a hub for scientific and technological cooperation based on AI with Google DeepMind, in connection with the 'K-Moonshot' initiative.

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