In 2016, the world watched in awe as AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence program developed by Google DeepMind, defeated Lee Sedol, one of the greatest Go players in history. Go, a game of seemingly infinite complexity, had always been a bastion of human intuition and creativity — the one arena machines were thought unable to conquer. Yet in just five games, AlphaGo did more than win; it revealed a new kind of intelligence. Its now-legendary move 37 stunned experts not because it was logical, but because it was profoundly original. That moment marked a turning point: machines could not only calculate but also surprise, innovate, and teach us to see differently.

Nearly a decade later, we stand in front of our own metaphorical mirror, asking, “Who is the most productive of all?” The answer, more often than not, is AI. From writing and art to medicine and logistics, machines are surpassing us in speed, scale, and sometimes even creativity. This leaves us in an existential predicament: if AI can do what we once thought defined us, then what is left for humanity? Like Go players reimagining their strategies after AlphaGo, we too must reimagine our purpose — shifting from competing with machines to rediscovering meaning, identity, and value in the uniquely human dimensions of empathy, imagination, and purpose.