Chap claims Atari 2600 'absolutely wrecked' ChatGPT at chess

1.19MHz eight-bit CPU trounced modern GPUs – can you do better with your retro-tech?

The Atari 2600 gaming console came into the world in 1977 with an eight-bit processor that ran at 1.19MhZ, and just 128 bytes of RAM – but that’s apparently enough power to beat ChatGPT at chess.

So says infrastructure architect Robert Caruso, who over the weekend posted the results of an experiment he conducted to “pit ChatGPT against the Atari 2600’s chess engine (via Stella emulator) and see what happens.”

ChatGPT confused rooks for bishops, and repeatedly lost track of pieces

Caruso decided to run the experiment after conversing with ChatGPT about the history of chess. At some point in that chat, the bot volunteered to play against the Atari – a reasonable suggestion as “Video Chess” was one of the games Atari commissioned for its console.

Online chat in which chess wonks discuss the ...