When machines take over: professional chess as a model case for the societal impact of superhuman AI

Abstract Once emblematic of human intellectual mastery, chess has become a domain where machines not only surpass human ability but fundamentally reshape the practice’s social dynamics, meanings, and power structures. This paper examines the transformative impact of superhuman AI on professional chess, positioning it as an analytical model case for understanding AI’s broader societal implications. Drawing on a corpus of 271 h of transcribed chess commentary, the analysis traces the shift from symbolic AI to deep learning systems, and the consequent reconfiguration of chess as a social practice. The study explores how this transformation alters the game’s meaning, redistributes authority, reshapes power relations, and creates new social roles through AI’s integration. These insights foreshadow challenges for fields, such as medicine or law, where AI’s ascendancy may similarly redistribute authority, redefine purpose, and reshape agency.