Astra becomes first AI to reach Minecraft's Nether fortress—and shows 'frustration'
Promptmethus · x · 2026-09-11
- Vals AI reports its agent Astra has reached the Nether fortress in a long-horizon Minecraft computer-use eval, a first for any AI, and is now in the final stretch of beating the game in real time.
- Observers noted emergent 'frustration': after dying repeatedly in the Nether, Astra respawned and frantically swung its axe, then spent 30 minutes trying to kill an innocent iron golem for no reason.
- It also seemed annoyed by its own reaction time—sometimes letting itself die or killing itself when attacked—yet built its own speedbridge through the Nether and sniped a blocking piglin from 20 blocks away.
- The team says Astra shows proto-AGI signals across all of their evals.
Related event: AI Agent Astra Reaches Minecraft Nether Fortress for First Time(2 posts)→
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