Don’t Rely On AI To Plan Anything That Could Put Your Life At Risk… Like A Mountain Climb

A group of climbers set out to climb Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County, California thinking it would only take them eight hours, because that’s what Google’s Gemini chatbot told them. Gemini ended up being very, very wrong. Specifically, they relied on the chatbot for route research and asked it for recommendations on how much food and water to take with them. 

Gemini reportedly told them to prepare for an eight-hour trek and pack food with simple carbohydrates instead of fats, because fats “take too long to digest.” As a result, they carried daypacks with just enough food and water for a short climb, with no plans for shelter and no warm clothing. As you may have surmised by now, they eventually had to be rescued by the US Forest Service Climbing Rangers with the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team. 

The climbers set up a base camp on August 29, the sheriff’s office has reported, before setting out on August 30 at 3AM. It took them 16 hours just to reach the summit. That was already 7PM on August 30, way past the recommended turnaround time of 12PM. Since it was already dark when they descended, and they were ill-prepared, they ended up wandering off-route. They were using AllTrails for navigation, but the phone with the app died before they could make it down. 

While they called 911 to ask for directions, it wasn’t until around 9:30AM on August 31 that the forest rangers had finally reached them. Further, weather conditions didn’t permit a helicopter rescue, so they had to descend on foot, which took another nine hours. “We relied too much on AI rather than our own critical thinking,” the climbers reportedly told SFGate. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office is advising climbers to call the Mount Shasta Ranger station ahead of their trip for the most accurate information and to “never rely solely on AI” for planning.