Recently, a man named Robert Caruso, an infrastructure architect, shared an experiment on social media to test the chess skills of modern AI technology and retro gaming consoles. He pitted OpenAI's ChatGPT against the chess engine on the Atari 2600, which was released in 1977. Surprisingly, the Atari 2600 defeated ChatGPT with a significant advantage.

Chess Playing

Source Note: The image is generated by AI, licensed by MidJourney.

The experiment began when Caruso had a conversation with ChatGPT about the history of chess. During the conversation, ChatGPT proposed playing against the Atari, citing that "chess" was a classic game developed for its gaming console. After researching, Caruso found that the "Video Chess" game on this console posed a certain challenge for beginners but was somewhat threatening for intermediate players. Therefore, he decided to conduct this cross-era showdown.

However, the outcome of the match was surprising. Caruso stated that ChatGPT was "completely crushed" in beginner-level games. Even when given the chessboard layout, ChatGPT confused rooks and bishops and frequently lost track of pieces. Worse still, even after attempting guidance through standard chess notation, ChatGPT made numerous mistakes, reminiscent of the skill level of elementary school students.

To correct these errors, Caruso continuously intervened during the 90-minute match to help ChatGPT make more reasonable moves. However, no matter what he did, ChatGPT failed to improve its performance and even claimed it would do better if it could replay. Ultimately, ChatGPT had to admit its defeat, with Caruso jokingly asking, "Have you played Atari today?" ChatGPT responded, "I wish I hadn't."

This human vs. machine matchup sparked discussions about retro technology and modern AI. For readers who are fans of retro devices, Caruso also issued a challenge, encouraging everyone to try playing against AI using their old gaming equipment and share the results.

Key Takeaway: 🕹️The Atari 2600 won the chess match against ChatGPT. 🤖ChatGPT frequently made mistakes, confusing pieces and losing awareness of the board. 📅This game has sparked discussions about retro technology and modern artificial intelligence.