AI researchers have used all sorts of video games, from Street Fighter to Pictionary, to test new models — often more for amusement than utility. But Anthropic said that Pokémon proved to be a useful benchmark for Claude 3.7 Sonnet, which can effectively “think” through the sorts of puzzles the game contains.

Available to paid subscribers, Claude's new extended mode is geared for math and coding questions, but you can use it for any challenging task.

As I write this, it’s hunting a Mankey outside of Viridian City in Pokémon Red. It’s using the new Claude 3.7 Sonnet “hybrid reasoning model” and shows its thinking in a side window. The stream is less interesting and slower-paced than the original Twitch Plays Pokémon.