South Korea’s esports icon Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, midlaner for League of Legends staff T1, stated he was assured his staff may defeat a synthetic intelligence opponent proposed by Elon Musk in a possible exhibition match subsequent 12 months.
Talking throughout a press convention reported by native media in Seoul on December 18th, Faker welcomed the rising curiosity from main expertise firms in aggressive gaming, whereas expressing perception that human gamers would nonetheless have the sting within the quick time period.
“It’s encouraging to see AI and massive tech firms taking note of our discipline,” Faker stated. “Chess could have already fallen to AI, however I imagine we will win the match subsequent 12 months.”
Musk Proposes AI vs T1 Showdown
The feedback adopted a publish made by Musk in November on X (previously Twitter), the place the Tesla CEO stated his synthetic intelligence firm, xAI, was planning a 2026 match between its next-generation mannequin, Grok 5, and T1. Musk described the Korean organisation as the very best human League of Legends staff after it secured this 12 months’s League of Legends World Championship title.
T1 publicly acknowledged the proposal shortly after, posting a photograph of Lee alongside the message: “We’re prepared.”
Whereas particulars across the format, ruleset or official affirmation of the match haven’t but been introduced, the suggestion has sparked comparisons to historic human-versus-AI showdowns, most notably Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo defeating Go champion Lee Sedol and IBM’s Deep Blue successful in opposition to World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov.
Faker acknowledged the long-term potential of synthetic intelligence in esports, however recommended League of Legends stays a extra complicated problem.
“I feel AI will ultimately be capable to compete in opposition to us in LoL and win sometime,” he stated. “However subsequent 12 months, I really feel like we’ll in all probability be those to win.”
Faker’s Current Press Convention
The press convention was additionally held within the context of Lee’s latest four-year contract extension with T1, which can preserve him with the organisation till 2029. Having debuted with the staff in 2013, Lee has spent his total skilled profession with T1 and is broadly thought to be essentially the most completed participant in League of Legends historical past, with six World Championship titles to his identify.
“With this contract, I anticipate to spend my total skilled profession with T1,” Faker stated. “The organisation has given me many essential issues past monetary rewards.”
Regardless of being 29 — an age at which many esports professionals have already retired — Faker stated his motivation to compete stays unchanged.
“My ardour nonetheless exists,” he stated. “I nonetheless very a lot wish to win and play effectively.”
Faker additionally named Gen.G midlaner Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon as his best rival lately, describing their matchups as a key driver of his continued development as a participant.
Whether or not or not the proposed AI match finally takes place, Lee’s feedback underline each the accelerating position of synthetic intelligence in gaming and esports, and the continued confidence of elite gamers in human creativity, adaptability and teamwork — at the very least for now.
