Gemini AI Struggles to Play Pokémon: What Google’s Experiment Reveals
Google’s Gemini AI panics in Pokémon battles—what this says about the future of AI reasoning and real-world reliability.
Matilda
Gemini AI Struggles to Play Pokémon: What Google’s Experiment Reveals Why Gemini AI Playing Pokémon Reveals Deeper Issues in AI Reasoning AI models are becoming increasingly sophisticated, but even advanced systems like Gemini AI playing Pokémon can expose their hidden limitations. In a recent report from Google DeepMind, Gemini 2.5 Pro was observed to “panic” during critical gameplay moments—especially when its Pokémon were close to fainting. This unusual behavior caused a clear drop in its reasoning performance. The study highlights how AI, despite immense computational power, still struggles with emotional-like responses and consistency when exposed to high-pressure tasks. For users and developers alike, this raises critical questions about the model’s reliability in real-world decision-making beyond games. Image Credits:picture alliance / Getty Images What We Learn From AI Playing Pokémon Games The experiment of Gemini AI playing Pokémon isn’t just for laughs—though some moments are undeniably entertaining. It’s part of a broader…