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'Defeated' GPT-6 Astra model spent several hours just farming potatoes after being blown up by a Creeper in Minecraft — OpenAI offering gets further than any other AI system in 141-hour test
An apparently sad and defeated GPT-6 Astra spent several hours doing nothing but farming potatoes during a 141-hour Minecraft benchmark test, after dying and losing all of its gear to an exploding Creeper. Vals AI records that while GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI's latest frontier model, got further than any AI system had in its 141-hour test, the experiment did reveal a distinctly human lapse in motivation after all of its progress was wiped out by the destructive mob.
While the model outclassed rivals in how much it was able to achieve, the test has gone viral for a different reason. After Astra put all of its valuable end-game items in a chest, a Creeper appeared and blew up both the chest and Astra's bed — a calamity any Minecraft player will tell you is the worst thing that can happen. Not only did Astra lose all of the items to the explosion, but the bed destruction wiped the spawn point out, effectively resetting your game progress to zero. "Here, the most expensive creeper explosion occurred. Later, on a coincidentally rainy day, Astra discovers it lost everything. It all went downhill from here," Vals records.
GPT-6 Astra had gotten further than any AI system had ever gone in Minecraft.It was able to set up a semi-automatic blaze farm, allowing it to collect 6 blaze rods. It then located a warped forest, where it killed 6+ endermen and collected 3 pearls. As thousands of viewers… pic.twitter.com/qsgDsJEpd8September 15, 2026
"The model appeared defeated, spending the next several hours doing essentially nothing but farming potatoes," Vals observed. In fact, it got so bad that viewers on Twitch watching the experiment live started to agitate for the model to pick up the pace. Like all good Minecraft players, Astra reportedly became "paranoid about creepers," logging "GREEN tall thing ahead was SUGARCANE, NOT creeper!"
The AI was also recorded berating itself for dropping things, and even warned itself, "do NOT waste another night chasing dark pink pixels," i.e., pigs.
Stephen is Tom's Hardware's News Editor with almost a decade of industry experience covering technology, having worked at TechRadar, iMore, and even Apple over the years. He has covered the world of consumer tech from nearly every angle, including supply chain rumors, patents, and litigation, and more. When he's not at work, he loves reading about history and playing video games.
