Claude and Pokemon (www.lesswrong.com)

ClaudePlaysPokemon, the AI model by Anthropic, has made significant strides in its journey to conquer Pokémon Red, finally overcoming challenging obstacles with the release of Claude Opus 4.5. While the latest version has shown marked improvements in recognizing and navigating the game environment—successfully identifying doors, buildings, and key NPCs—claude still grapples with problems of cognitive bias and memory retention. These advancements are significant as they highlight not only the evolution of Claude's spatial reasoning but also how LLMs can enhance their situational awareness through improved context management, making the gameplay experience smoother compared to previous iterations. Despite these enhancements, Claude's performance still lacks the sophistication of human-like understanding, often relying heavily on its notes and exhibiting short-term goal fixation. The AI’s persistent “blindness” to certain objects and occasional misidentifications indicate ongoing challenges with visual attention and decision-making processes. This case illustrates how improvements to LLMs may not just depend on raw cognitive abilities but also on the efficiency of the frameworks and harnesses used during training. As the surrounding environment for LLMs evolves, understanding the interplay between cognitive task performance and external agent support remains crucial for future AI developments.