The Gunners midfield maestro was given his marching orders by referee Chris Kavanagh early into the second half when he received a second yellow for allegedly preventing Joel Veltman from taking a quick free-kick by the corner flag.
Rice had already been booked for a full-blooded lunging tackle on Veltman in the first half, which Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler later claimed was lucky to escape further punishment.
The remorseful England international said: "I think from my behalf, that’s my first sending off in my career, so I just wanted to apologise obviously to my teammates, which I’ve done, and to the fans.
"When you get sent off, it’s never nice, you get a sense of guilt over you, and I was lucky today that my teammates really helped me out and we didn’t lose the game. I’ll learn from it."
Rice also revealed his surprise at Kavanagh's decision despite conceding there are lessons to be learned from the costly incident.
He added: "Yeah I was shocked, I think you could see in my face I was shocked. He's obviously gone over, I've not sprinted over and smashed the ball away, I’ve touched the ball with the outside of my foot.
"But look, this is the laws of the game. If you touch ball away, even a little bit, obviously it’s a red card after my challenge in the first half which I fully accept was a 50-50 that I didn’t win.
Rice was sent off during the second half of the 1-1 draw with Brighton
"But the second half one, especially with it being in the corner flag, they can't really progress anywhere from there. It was tough, it was harsh, but it's one of those things.
"I have to move on from it, I will be better for it and I can only praise the players for digging deep for me, and the manager for pushing everyone, and the fans as well who were unbelievable again this afternoon. That’s how I see it."
Rice will now miss Arsenal's crunch trip to Tottenham in the first North London Derby of the season through suspension following the completion of the international break.
Arsenal led through Kai Havertz in the first half when he was slipped in on goal by Bukayo Saka following a Brighton mixup at the back involving caption Lewis Dunk.
Havertz lofted the ball over the onrushing Bart Verbruggen and into the net before Joao Pedro, who Mikel Arteta also felt should have been punished for kicking the ball away in the first half, netted an equaliser on 58 minutes.
Both Havertz and Saka then had two notable chances to win the match for Arsenal in the final 10 minutes but the Gunners may also feel satisfied with a point having played 41 minutes plus stoppage time with 10 men.
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