big match between professional Go player Se-dol Lee and the AI go [baduk]
program designed by Google DeepMind, AlphaGo. The objective of this research
is to study the social impact of AlphaGo by focusing on buzzwords such as
"AlphaGo shock" and "the Fourth Industrial Revolution", and the rhetoric of
people who use these terms. The victory of AlphaGo, in an area long considered
the unconquerable sanctum of human supremacy, sparked huge and
unprecedented interest in AI technology. While it is unsurprising that advanced
information technology such as AI garnered such spotlight as the epitome of
technological cutting-edge, this event is notable in that it marks the first occasion
the whole of Korean society bore witness to the power of AI technology through
the ‘human vs. machine’ "match of the century", leading to a popular boom
regarding AI. In particular, the impact of AlphaGo-related discussion was
furthered by its association with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a concept
proposed at the World Economic Forum just before the Google DeepMind
Chellenge match.
I analyze how the expectations of experts and the media differ between before
and after the match, and how this accomplishment of AI technology is utilized in
discussions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, through various investigations
into media coverage. I argue that the ambiguity of the two buzzwords creates a
strategic misunderstanding among the actors, which is utilized to expand and
support ongoing discussions on AI and the "AI technology society”.
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