Mountain Hikers Rescued After Using Google’s Gemini AI to Plan Their Route and What to Pack

A group of hikers had to be rescued after getting lost and injured while climbing up a mountain after using Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, to help them plan their route and pack for the trip.

According to a press release on social media from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office in Yreka, California, Forest Service Climbing Rangers on Mount Shasta had to be deployed to rescue a group of three hikers who they were in contact with overnight after they got lost while descending from the summit.

The press release states that the hikers camped at approximately 8,400 feet up the mountain and made for the summit at 3 a.m. on August 29. The following day, they began their descent down the mountain at 7:00 p.m., well after the mountain’s turnaround time of 12:00 p.m. As a result, they were climbing down in the dark.

Within an hour, they called Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch to ask for directions but quickly found themselves off track in the Mud Creek Canyon. It was there that one of the hikers suffered a knee injury and the group was forced to make an improvised camp on the steep ground until rescuers could arrive the next morning. Fortunately, with the help of their rescuers, the hikers all made it back to safety.

At the conclusion of the rescue, the hikers admitted they had relied heavily on Google’s Gemini AI to give them information about the route they should take as well as what to pack for their hike.

“This was a critical misstep, as they were advised by Gemini to bring far less food and water than their group required, especially when their planned 8-hour ascent became a multi-day ordeal,” the press release reads.

The press release concluded with the Sheriff’s Office encouraging future hikers to consult the local USFS Mount Shasta Ranger station for the best information about how to navigate the area and to never rely solely on artificial intelligence to plan a trek.