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Google’smost expensive AI modelseems to have crossed a major milestone : Beating a 29 - year - sometime video game .
Last dark , Google CEO Sundar Pichaiposted triumphantly on X , “ What a finish ! Gemini 2.5 Pro just completed Pokémon Blue ! ”
To be clear , theGemini Plays Pokemon livestreamwas created by ( in his own word ) “ a 30 year old software locomotive engineer unaffiliated with Google ” who go bad byJoel Z. But Google executives have been cheering the exploit on .
For example , Logan Kilpatrick , the product conduct for Google AI Studio , posted last monththat Gemini was “ making great progress at discharge Pokémon ” and had “ earned its 5th badge ( next upright mannequin only has 3 so far , though with a different agentive role harness ) , ” leading Pichai tojoke , “ We are working on API , Artificial Pokémon Intelligence :) ”
Why Pokémon ? Back in February , Anthropic highlight progressthat its Claude AI simulation were making in “ Pokémon Red , ” compose that Claude ’s “ extended thinking and agentive role education ” cave in it “ a major boost ” on “ more unexpected ” tasks , like playing a classical game . ( “ Pokémon Red ” and “ Blue ” are different versions ofa GameBoy titlefirst release in 1996 and draw to the long - draw Pokémon enfranchisement ) . There ’s evena Claude Plays Pokemon Twitch channelthat Joel Z cited as an inspiration .
Despite its onward motion , Claude does not appear to have beat “ Pokémon Red ” yet . Does that think Gemini is objectively good at the secret plan ? On his Twitch page , Joel Z urged viewers , “ Please do n’t consider this a benchmark for how well an LLM can bet Pokemon . You ca n’t really make verbatim equivalence — Gemini and Claude have unlike puppet and receive different information . ”
And both AI models necessitate help to play the game — that ’s wherethe aforementioned federal agent harnessescome in , providing the model with plot screenshots overlaid with additional information , allow the model to adjudicate how to respond ( which may demand calling specialized agent ) , and then pressing the button that match with the AI ’s instruction .
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Joel Z admit that there were other “ dev interventions ” to help Gemini fill out the game , but take a firm stand that it ’s not cheating .
“ My interventions improve Gemini ’s overall determination - making and abstract thought power , ” he says . “ I do n’t give specific hint — there are no walkthroughs or direct instructions for particular challenge like Mt. Moon . The only thing that hail even close is letting Gemini cognize that it needs to talk to a Rocket Grunt twice to obtain the Lift Key , which was a hemipterous insect that was by and by fixed in Pokemon Yellow . ”
Plus , he say , “ Gemini roleplay Pokémon is still actively being developed , and the framework continues to evolve . ”
