— Inspired by Jang Kang-myoung’s The Future That Came First
“I lost to you. But your Go didn’t sit right with me.”
In 1994, Lee Chang-ho led Korea to victory at the world’s top Go tournament. Japan’s legendary grandmaster Fujisawa Shuko — Lee’s teacher’s teacher — sent him a letter. Not congratulations. A warning.
“It lacks feeling. Go is an art, not just a contest.”
He meant it. That’s what makes it worth thinking about.
AlphaGo didn’t just win. It ended an argument.
Before AI, Go’s opening moves were a canvas. No stones, infinite possibility — the domain of intuition and genius. Players didn’t just study moves. They developed a philosophy.
After AlphaGo, every move has a win rate. Creativity gets fact-checked in real time. Players no longer ask “is this beautiful?” They ask “what does the AI say?”
Standards rose. Wonder left.
Management is facing the same moment.
AI can’t yet make the calls that define a company — what to build, what to sacrifice, what kind of organization to become. That still belongs to the human at the top.
But the encroachment has already begun. Strategy decks, decision frameworks, executive summaries — AI drafts them now. The danger isn’t that AI decides. It’s that leaders stop thinking before AI starts. Borrow the frame without forming your own view first, and your originality quietly disappears.
Go players memorize AI moves and call it mastery. Executives adopt AI frameworks and call it strategy.
Unlike Go, management is not a winning or losing game.
Go has a winner. Management has to decide what winning even means — for employees, customers, society. That definition is the job.
Profit matters. But the moment profit maximization becomes the only answer, something more important goes missing.
If the day comes when AI can supply the right answers in business, one question will remain.
What will you ask it to solve?