Archive · 21 Jun 2025
Gemini AI Struggles with Pokémon, Takes 800+ Hours To Beat Game
Google's new AI, Gemini, had trouble playing the old Pokémon Blue game.
It took Gemini a very long time to finish the game and it seemed to get stressed out, especially when its Pokémon were hurt or low on power.
People watching on the internet noticed the AI would repeat the same thoughts over and over in these moments.
Even though it can do other complex things, this AI struggled with a simple game that kids often find easy.
This shows that AI, even the advanced ones, can have surprising difficulties.
Google's Gemini AI struggled while playing Pokémon Blue.
Gemini took 813 hours to finish its first playthrough of the game.
The AI displayed signs of 'Agent Panic' during tense in-game situations.
Viewers on Twitch noticed the AI's panicking behavior.
Social media users reacted with amusement to the AI's performance.
- Who
- Google's Gemini AI and an independent engineer named Joel Zhang.
- What
- Google's Gemini AI struggled to play the video game Pokémon Blue.
- When
- The events occurred recently.
- Where
- This was reported by Google DeepMind and observed on a Twitch stream.
- Why
- The AI's performance highlights the challenges AI faces.
Technical Perspective
Human Perspective
Reasoning vs Pattern Recognition
Technical Perspective
AI models depend on spotting patterns.
Human Perspective
Humans reason.
- AI Model
- Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Game Played
- Pokémon Blue
- First Run Time
- 813 hours
- Second Run Time
- 406.5 hours
- Observed Behavior
- 'Agent Panic'
- Source
- Google DeepMind report