Gemini AI Panics While Playing Pokémon - Google's AI Fails

The Competitive Landscape of AI and Unexpected Gaming Behavior

Companies specializing in artificial intelligence are engaged in a vigorous competition for industry leadership, a rivalry that occasionally extends to unconventional arenas, such as Pokémon gyms.

AI Models and Pokémon: A Study in Reasoning

Both Google and Anthropic are currently investigating the performance of their newest AI models when navigating classic Pokémon games. The findings are often both entertaining and insightful. A recent report from Google DeepMind indicates that Gemini 2.5 Pro exhibits signs of distress when its Pokémon are nearing defeat.

This distress manifests as a “qualitatively observable degradation in the model’s reasoning capability,” as detailed in the report.

The Nuances of AI Benchmarking

Evaluating AI performance, or AI benchmarking, is a complex process that frequently lacks sufficient context regarding a model’s true capabilities. However, some researchers believe that observing how AI models interact with video games can be a valuable, and at least amusing, method of study.

Live Streams: Witnessing AI Gameplay

Over recent months, developers independent of Google and Anthropic have established live Twitch streams titled “Gemini Plays Pokémon” and “Claude Plays Pokémon.” These streams allow viewers to observe in real-time as an AI attempts to play a video game designed for children over 25 years ago.

The streams also showcase the AI’s “reasoning” process – a natural language interpretation of how the AI analyzes problems and formulates responses – providing insight into the models’ internal workings.

Performance and Behavioral Observations

Despite notable progress, these AI models are still relatively unskilled at playing Pokémon. It requires hundreds of hours for Gemini to complete a game that a child could finish in a fraction of the time.

The focus isn’t necessarily on completion speed, but rather on the AI’s behavior during gameplay.

Gemini 2.5 Pro and Simulated Panic

According to the report, “Over the course of the playthrough, Gemini 2.5 Pro gets into various situations which cause the model to simulate ‘panic.’”

This “panic” state can lead to diminished performance, with the AI temporarily abandoning the use of available tools. While AI doesn’t experience genuine emotion, its actions mirror the poor, impulsive decisions a human might make under stress – a compelling, albeit concerning, response.

“This behavior has occurred in enough separate instances that the members of the Twitch chat have actively noticed when it is occurring,” the report notes.

Claude’s Curious Strategies

Claude has also demonstrated unusual behaviors during its Pokémon journey. The AI identified a pattern: when all Pokémon lose health, the player character “whites out” and returns to the most recently visited Pokémon Center.

Trapped in Mt. Moon cave, Claude incorrectly theorized that intentionally causing all Pokémon to faint would transport it to the Pokémon Center in the next town.

This is not how the game functions; fainting returns the player to the last used Pokémon Center, not the nearest one. Viewers watched as the AI seemingly attempted self-destruction within the game.

Areas of AI Superiority

Despite its limitations, AI can outperform human players in certain areas. Gemini 2.5 Pro, for example, demonstrates impressive puzzle-solving abilities.

With some human guidance, the AI created agentic tools – specialized instances of Gemini 2.5 Pro designed for specific tasks – to solve boulder puzzles and find efficient routes.

“With only a prompt describing boulder physics and a description of how to verify a valid path, Gemini 2.5 Pro is able to one-shot some of these complex boulder puzzles, which are required to progress through Victory Road,” the report states.

Future Potential and Self-Improvement

Given Gemini 2.5 Pro’s success in creating these tools independently, Google suggests the current model may be capable of doing so without human intervention. It’s conceivable that Gemini could even develop a “don’t panic” module to enhance its performance.