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A master player of the Chinese
strategy game Go has decided to retire, due to the rise of artificial
intelligence that "cannot be defeated".
In 2016, he took part in a five-match showdown against AlphaGo, losing four times but beating the computer once.
The South Korean said he had decided to retire after realising: "I'm not at the top even if I become the number one."
"There is an entity that cannot be defeated," the 18-time world Go champion told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Lee Se-dol is considered to be one of the greatest Go players of the modern era. The 36-year-old former world champion started playing at the age of five, and turned pro just seven years later.
His defeat by the AlphaGo software was seen as a landmark moment for artificial intelligence.
AlphaGo was developed by Deepmind, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet.
"On behalf of the whole AlphaGo team at DeepMind, I'd like to congratulate Lee Se-dol for his legendary decade at the top of the game, and wish him the very best for the future," said Demis Hassabis, chief executive and co-founder of Deepmind.
"During the AlphaGo matches, he demonstrated true warrior spirit and kept us on the edges of our seats to the very end."
Go originated in China 3,000 years ago, and has been played for centuries.