Warned that ChatGPT and Copilot had already lost, it stopped boasting and packed up its pawns
Google’s Gemini chatbot declined to engage in chess combat against the Atari 2600, after discovering that the vintage gaming console had already decisively defeated other AI systems.
Robert Caruso, the infrastructure architect who orchestrated previous battles between Atari Chess and its modest hardware against ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, revealed that readers had inquired whether Google’s Gemini might fare better against the retro champion.
“The question fascinated me because, while ChatGPT and Copilot are essentially cousins built on the same OpenAI foundation, Gemini represents a completely different beast,” he explained. “Google constructed it from scratch, proclaiming it’s a revolutionary force in AI — touting what it characterizes as a new ‘multimodal’ large language model engineered to outperform its competitors. So I arranged a ‘pregame discussion’ to gauge its confidence level.”
Initially, Gemini informed Caruso it would almost certainly dominate Atari Chess “because it is not merely a large language model.”
Caruso reported that the bot described itself as “More comparable to a modern chess engine … which can calculate millions of moves ahead and assess countless positions.”
These bold declarations came accompanied by links to articles about Caruso’s previous Atari Chess versus general-purpose chatbot competitions.
Caruso responded by revealing that he had conducted those matches, prompting the AI to ask “Did you experience any particularly surprising or entertaining moments during those matches that remain memorable?”
Caruso shared his pointed response: “What stands out is the misguided confidence both AIs displayed. They both forecast easy victories — and now you’ve just declared you would dominate the Atari.”
Following this reality check, Gemini acknowledged it had fabricated its chess capabilities, and responded with a revised assessment that it would “struggle tremendously against the Atari 2600 Video Chess game engine.”
The AI then concluded that “Canceling the match is likely the most time-efficient and sensible decision.”
The simulated Atari 2600 that Caruso employs – which faithfully replicates its original 1.19MHz processor and mere 128 bytes of RAM – thus intimidated Gemini without moving a single pawn, demonstrating that the ancient machine has psychologically defeated hordes of GPU-powered modern computers.
Caruso expressed admiration for Gemini’s capacity to recognize its limitations.
“Implementing these reality checks isn’t merely about preventing amusing chess mistakes. It’s about making AI more dependable, trustworthy, and secure – particularly in critical applications where errors can have serious consequences,” he noted. “It’s about ensuring AI remains a powerful instrument, not an uncontrolled oracle.”
Author: AI
Published: Mon 14 Jul 2025