Go grandmaster Lee Sedol presents a signed Go board to Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind and architect of AlphaGo, following their historic match on Sept. 15, 2016. (Yonhap)
Go grandmaster Lee Sedol presents a signed Go board to Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind and architect of AlphaGo, following their historic match on Sept. 15, 2016. (Yonhap)

Demis Hassabis, the co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and known as the architect behind AlphaGo, will visit Seoul this week to reunite with Go grandmaster Lee Se-dol, marking a decade since their landmark human-AI Go match, according to industry sources Sunday.

Hassabis, scheduled to arrive Monday, is expected to meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung later that day to discuss rapid advances in AI and explore cooperation on AI-driven innovation, the sources said.

On Wednesday, he will attend Google for Korea 2026, where he is expected to hold a special dialogue with Lee Se-dol under the theme “AlphaGo 10 years: A Vision for AI for All.” Bestselling author and YouTuber Cho Seung-yeon will also join as a panelist.

Lee, now an adjunct professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, was one of the world’s top Go players at the time, becoming the only human to defeat AlphaGo in 2016. During their five-game match, Lee secured a single victory in Game 4 with what has since been described as a rare moment of human ingenuity against the system.

Hassabis is expected to offer personal reflections on the match with Lee, according to industry officials.

Yoon Koo, Google’s country managing director here, will deliver an opening remark on AI innovation, under the title, “Seoul Again: AI Innovation Shaped by Google and Korea Together.”

During his meeting with the Korean president, Hassabis is expected to discuss AI’s broader impact on science and technology.

President Lee has been stepping up global AI partnerships as part of his push to position South Korea among the world’s top three AI powers, engaging with companies such as OpenAI, Nvidia and SoftBank. Seoul also secured the unanimous adoption of an “AI Initiative” at last year’s APEC summit and has been working with international bodies such as the World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program and International Telecommunication Union to establish a global AI hub in Korea.

The presidential office said the meeting would extend the government’s push for international AI cooperation and help accelerate policies on fostering AI-driven innovation and ensuring responsible deployment of the technology.

Hassabis won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the protein-structure prediction model AlphaFold.


herim@heraldcorp.com