Go Champion Lee Sedol retires, AI ‘cannot be defeated’

Go champion Lee Sedol is to retire from playing the game professionally, stating that he can no longer hope to become the world number one due to competion from AI

Mr Lee, 34, has been playing professionally since he was just 12.

In 2016 the South Korean received widespread acclaim when he managed to defeat AlphaGo, Google Deepmind’s AI Go player. AlphaGo won four out of five matches, but Mr Lee’s triumph in one of the games is the only time a human player has beaten an AI rival.

But now he’s ending his career, albeit reluctantly.

“With the debut of AI in Go games, I’ve realised that I’m not at the top even if I become the number one through frantic efforts,” Mr Lee told South Korean news agency Yonhap.

“Even if I become the number one, there is an entity that cannot be defeated,” he added.

arketyp.

Go champion Lee Sedol is to retire from playing the game professionally, stating that he can no longer hope to become the world number one due to competion from AI