Why Go on, says board game master, when AI is unbeatable

A GO MASTER famed as the only human to defeat Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) has retired from competition in the Chinese board game, saying there is no point playing any more as even the best contestants pale in comparison to the machine.

Lee Se-dol, 36, won 50 international and domestic Go titles over a legendary career in the game, which involves two players placing black-and-white stones across a checkerboard-like grid.

The South Korean retired from professional competition last week, three years after a famous match against Alpha Go, an AI player developed by Google’s Deepmind Technologies. The computer won four times in five rounds but Mr Lee’s sole win remains the only time a human has beaten the machine.

Mr Lee said he had retired after realising humans could no longer compete with technology.

“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,” he told the Yonhap News Agency in Seoul. “Even if I become the number one, there is an entity that cannot be defeated.”

Mr Lee did not deny that his retirement was also influenced by a conflict with the Korean association for Go professionals over the use of membership fees. He had resigned from the Korea Baduk Association in 2016 and is now suing for the return of his money.

Mr Lee now plans to face off against another AI Go player next month to commemorate his retirement.

His new competitor will be Handol, a program developed by South Korea’s NHN Entertainment Corp that has already defeated South Korea’s top five Go players.