Elden Ring dataminer explains why enemies smack you when you reach for a potion

pcgamer.com:

As reported by our friends at GamesRadar(opens in new tab), prolific Souls series dataminer Zullie the Witch(opens in new tab) has released a new video touching on a slightly controversial aspect of Elden Ring's much-discussed difficulty: enemies' propensity for reacting to certain actions (like self-healing) almost as fast as you can perform them, sometimes referred to by fans as «input reading.»

Has this ever happened to you? You've whittled down the Godskin Guy's health to within bare millimeters of victory, as he has done to you. Thankfully, you've got an ace in the hole: the healing Flask of Crimson Tears. One little chug and you'll have some breathing room in these final moments of the battle. But as soon as you pull the flask from your belt the Godskin Guy is already charging up his little blackflame hadouken.

Already committed to the drinking animation, you can only watch as that fireball smacks you in the face before your health can fully restore. You die, everything is ruined, your marriage is in shambles, Rome has fallen, game over.

But how does this happen? «Input reading» almost implies the AI is tracking your keystrokes, but Zullie's findings show that enemy AI is keyed to watch for the in-game animation of your moves. It's less that the Godskin Guy instantaneously reacts to you pressing «X,» and more that he instantaneously reacts to player usage of certain items⁠—a key distinction when there are more obscure healing methods that the Godskin Guys will not punish. 

Enemy AI will use a similar function to detect and dodge projectile spells. Zullie demonstrates this last point by showing a boss dodging even when she aims her spells away from it.

In her video, Zullie says she empathizes with some players