Three hikers who relied on Google's Gemini chatbot to plan a climb up California's Mount Shasta had to be rescued after the AI advised them to bring far less food and water than the trip required, authorities say.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said the three men, from Roseville near Sacramento, were rescued from the mountain's Clear Creek Route after being stranded overnight. At the end of the rescue, the hikers told a deputy they had 'relied heavily on Google's Gemini AI' for information about the route and about what to pack. The office called that a 'critical misstep', saying the group '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'.
According to the sheriff's report, the group camped on Saturday and set off for the 14,179-foot summit around 3 a.m. on Sunday. Although hikers are told to turn around if they have not reached the top by noon, they summited at about 7 p.m., then tried to descend in the dark. They called the sheriff's office for directions, veered into Mud Creek Canyon, and one of them fell and injured a knee before USFS climbing rangers and volunteers found the group the next morning.
Officials stressed that hikers should call the local Mount Shasta ranger station before a trip and 'never rely solely on AI for your trip planning'. Search-and-rescue teams have issued similar warnings repeatedly this summer after a string of incidents in which hikers planned routes with Google Maps or AI assistants and underestimated the terrain.
The rescue also lands at an awkward moment for Google's marketing around the chatbot: on September 2 the company announced a multi-year partnership with YouTuber MrBeast built around demonstrating 'surviving harsh environments with Gemini', with a video slated for release on September 5 — the same day TechCrunch reported the Shasta rescue. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sheriff's account.
