In one of the most unexpectedly hilarious tech stories of the year, ChatGPT, OpenAI’s sophisticated AI chatbot, was soundly defeated by a nearly 50-year-old Atari 2600 console in a chess match. The outcome? ChatGPT got, in the words of its human challenger, “absolutely wrecked.”
A Friendly Challenge Goes Off the Rails
The experiment came from engineer Robert Jr. Caruso, who shared his bizarre AI-versus-console tale on LinkedIn. During a casual conversation with ChatGPT about chess, the AI itself boldly suggested taking on the Atari 2600 to showcase its strategic brilliance.
Unfortunately for ChatGPT, it quickly became clear that it had overestimated its abilities.
“Where Are My Knights?”
Caruso documented the AI’s many struggles throughout the game. ChatGPT couldn’t consistently track the position of the chess pieces, frequently forgot which ones it controlled, and made baffling decisions — including sacrificing knights to pawns.
Even more telling, ChatGPT blamed the Atari 2600’s abstract piece icons for its confusion. Caruso accommodated the complaint and switched the game to standard algebraic chess notation — but the poor moves persisted.
After nearly 90 minutes of chaotic gameplay, ChatGPT officially forfeited the match, unable to find a path forward.
AI Hallucinations Strike Again
This bizarre chess failure underscores a key weakness in large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT: they don’t “understand” structured tasks the way specialized AI (like Stockfish or LeelaChess) does. Instead, LLMs predict the next word or phrase based on patterns in text, which can lead to embarrassing errors when clear logic and precision are needed.
Caruso’s experiment joins a growing list of incidents where LLMs experience so-called “hallucinations” — confidently producing incorrect or illogical outputs.
Retro Tech for the Win
The Atari 2600, a gaming icon released in 1977, is hardly what you’d expect to triumph in a tech duel in 2025. But thanks to its strict, rule-based programming and focused function, it handily defeated one of the most hyped AI systems of our time.
The ChatGPT vs Atari 2600 chess match may sound like a joke, but it offers a sobering (and hilarious) glimpse into the limits of modern AI. While ChatGPT can draft emails, write stories, and help with code, playing a decent game of chess apparently isn’t one of its strong suits.
As Caruso put it, “It was like watching a toddler argue with a calculator.”