This Ape Was Taught How to Play Minecraft

Summary

A Bonobo named Kanzi at a US research facility has been taught to play Minecraft using a touchscreen, possibly making him the first ape to explore the game.
Kanzi's Minecraft journey progresses through various stages, and he is rewarded with food when he makes the right choices.
Kanzi enjoys playing Minecraft and sees it as a way to socialize, suggesting that apes can have a similar gaming experience to humans.

An ape from a US research facility has been taught how to play Minecraft using a touch screen. Since it was released, Minecraft has reached millions of players around the world, but this Bonobo may be the first ape to explore the game.

Given how long it has been out and how many devices it works on, countless Minecraft players have shared creative builds. Among the Minecraft creations shown off by the community are a Milky Way galaxy, Avatar's Pandora, and Peach's Castle from Super Mario 64. Rather than doing something different in Minecraft themselves, these researchers have taught an ape to play the Mojang game.

YouTuber ChrisDaCow recently shared a lengthy video on his experiences at the Ape Initiative. ChrisDaCow met with the Director of the facility and a 42-year-old Bonobo named Kanzi that lives at the Ape Initiative. Before Kanzi sits down to explore Minecraft, the Bonobo is using hand signals and symbols on the wall to indicate that he wants to play. With the help of Dr. Jared Taglialatela, ChrisDaCow got Minecraft working on a touchscreen display that Kanzi uses for other research games. To play Minecraft, Kanzi can tap the center of the screen to move forward and touch the sides to look around.

To get a feel for the game, Kanzi's Minecraft gameplay begins in an area with arrows pointing to loot floating on the ground. As Kanzi gets a feel for Minecraft, the gameplay is advanced to different stages. These distinct stages of Kanzi's Minecraft journey are called the basics, breaking, caving, multiplayer, village, desert temple, Nether portal, the Nether, and the End. Because Kanzi is rewarded with peanuts, grapes, or apples when he does something right in Minecraft, the Bonobo is being educated on the right choices to make in the game. At one point, Kanzi breaks the Minecraft client by inputting too many commands, an issue fixed by ChrisDaCow and others. After conquering each aspect of Minecraft introduced to him, Kanzi highlights that apes may be able to beat the game just like humans.

Although Kanzi has been praised by fans that express interest in having their own apes, ChrisDaCow emphasized that the animal shouldn't be a household pet. According to Dr. Jared Taglialatela, Kanzi doesn't only like playing Minecraft, but he enjoys it more when people watch him play. This dynamic may suggest that Kanzi sees the game as a way to socialize as so many gamers do when they play multiplayer Minecraft