AI unable to beat Pokémon Red's second gym after 50,000 hours

I don’t think we have to worry about AI taking over the world, especially if challenges us to Pokémon battles.

An AI was put to the test recently as it was challenged to beat the entirety of Pokémon Red, unfortunately, it’s absolutely terrible at Pokémon.

Check out the real-life SS Anne we got see below!

The programmer responsible shared the project on Youtube, saying they gave the AI algorithm 50,000 hours of training on everything you’d need to know to play, and hopefully beat Pokémon Red, though after thousands of more hours, it’s hardly even started.

In order to keep the AI motivated, it was given a reward system for completing certain activities in the game, as a point for discovering an item, winning a battle, finding a new route etc.

Starting off strong, it managed to work its way to the first gym in the game, Brock, the Rock-Type Gym Leader. It can be quite a challenging fight depending on the Pokémon you chose at the beginning of the game, and the ones you collect on your way there, but for the most part, it’s usually easy pickings.

For the AI though, it was somehow the equivalent to a Dark Souls boss, as it took a whopping 7,000 hours for it to finally beat the gym and claim the first badge.

It eventually made it to the second gym against the Water-Type trainer Misty, but is yet to defeat her, already devoting thousands of more hours to the cause. It’s been going for over 50,000 hours now.

The reason it sucks at Pokémon is reportedly because of strange decisions made prior to battles. One example is it apparently keeps placing Pokémon in the PC, significantly reducing the number it has at its disposal, and making fights way shorter than they could be.

Its strategy is also based on randomly trying things and hoping they’ll work, which is a sure way to lose in Pokémon games as understanding type advantages goes a long in securing victory.

Here’s hoping the AI eventually realises its goal of becoming a Pokémon master, I’m rooting for it.