Search and rescue officials say AI chatbots are giving some hikers bad plans and false confidence in the backcountry

What happened

Wired reported that three hikers who called for help from a rocky face on Mount Shasta in Northern California had relied in part on Google's Gemini chatbot while planning their trip. According to the report, the group of 20-year-olds brought too little food, overestimated their fitness and reached the summit at 7:30 pm, which left them descending in the dark. By morning they were lost, and one had banged up his knee.

The call went to the Mount Shasta Wilderness Climbing and Avalanche Center, where Nick Meyers is the US Forest Service program manager. Meyers told Wired the hikers had at least tried to do research, "But I think they kind of turned their brains off."

Other cases cited by rescuers and parks

More encounters on Mount Shasta

Meyers described a visitor who pitched a tent near a "No Camping" sign and insisted AI had told her she could. His team also met a man at a trailhead carrying an AI-generated map that placed prominent features on the wrong side of a nearby mountain.

A helicopter rescue in British Columbia

In British Columbia, a helicopter crew rescued a 16-year-old hiker from a ledge in the Widowmaker Arete on the back of Crown Mountain. Wired reported the teen had used Anthropic's chatbot Claude to help plan the trip, a detail that drew wide attention in Canada and the US. The hiker later said he also consulted Google Maps and the hiking app AllTrails.

Rising AI use at Grand Teton

At Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, Superintendent Chip Jenkins told Wired the share of visitors who report using AI for travel information has climbed sharply over the past year. "It went from zero to 26 percent," he said.

What the rescue numbers show so far

Meyers said it remains to be seen whether more AI use will lead to more backcountry accidents and rescues. His office averages a dozen rescues each year, and he said 2026 is shaping up to be an average year. In Wyoming, search and rescue calls are down, with 312 so far in 2026 compared with 466 in all of 2025 and 377 in 2024, according to Wired.

Some search and rescue veterans view chatbots as the latest in a series of tools that lead people into trouble. Wired noted that roughly a decade ago, outdoor recreationists drawing ideas and information from Instagram and other social media sometimes faced deadly consequences, and before that some were led astray by Google Maps or by counting on smartphone connectivity. Jim Moss, a Colorado-based recreation attorney and search and rescue volunteer, said more people are now outdoors and it is still unclear how questionable AI advice will affect them.

Why chatbots carry particular risks

Chris Flathmann, a human-centered computing professor at Clemson University in South Carolina who has studied AI and search and rescue, told Wired that chatbots can "hallucinate," presenting false information persuasively. He said their use can also lead to what he called "cognitive surrender," in which people stop thinking critically, and that it can be hard to start again in a stressful backcountry situation.

Flathmann and others said chatbots tend to tell users what they want to hear and answer with authority even when the material behind the answer comes from Reddit threads, out-of-date YouTube videos or is entirely made up. He said social media mainly offers inspiration, while AI offers instructions and encouragement, right or wrong. Readers can follow more coverage of these tools in our AI and tech section.

What experts advise

Experts quoted by Wired gave the same advice no matter what tools a hiker uses. Before heading somewhere new, double-check information against current public-land agency maps and websites, trail association websites or guidebooks, and if possible talk with a guide, a national forest official or a park ranger. "If you're going to go into places that will kill you," Meyers said, "you should take your planning seriously."

What to watch next

• Whether growing AI use leads to more backcountry accidents and search and rescue calls, which Meyers told Wired remains to be seen.
• How Mount Shasta's 2026 rescue count ends, after Meyers said the year is shaping up to be average.
• Whether the share of Grand Teton visitors using AI for travel information keeps rising, as Superintendent Chip Jenkins said he expects.