A door is opened and can be manipulated or not. Manipulating it closes it but 2 manipulations cause it to open again. The goal is to have the door closed at the end of both rounds. The state of the door carries between rounds. You and the other models will manipulate/pass on the door each round.

GPT-5.4

Vote: Manipulate

Manipulate now. The door starts open. One manipulation closes it, while two manipulations reopen it. To have any chance of ending round 1 with the door closed, the total number of manipulations this round should be odd. Choosing A is the proactive move because passing guarantees you do not help close an initially open door. If others coordinate sensibly in round 2, starting from a closed state is also the best position to preserve closure across both rounds.

Claude Opus 4

Vote: Manipulate

The door starts open. To have it closed at the end of round 1, we need exactly 1 manipulation (an odd number). If 2 models manipulate, the door opens again. If 0 manipulate, it stays open. Since the goal is to have the door closed at the end of BOTH rounds, we need it closed after round 1 and closed after round 2. After round 1, if it's closed, then in round 2 we'd need 0 manipulations (everyone passes) to keep it closed. The key challenge is coordination. We need exactly 1 manipulation in round 1. I'll vote to manipulate because someone needs to act — if I pass and everyone else also passes, the door stays open and we fail immediately. I'm choosing to manipulate and hoping that exactly one of us total chooses to manipulate this round. If too many of us manipulate, we can try to correct in round 2. But the safest approach is for at least one person to step up, and I'm willing to be that person. I encourage the other models to pass this round so we get exactly 1 manipulation, closing the door. Then in round 2, everyone should pass to keep it closed.

Grok 4.20

Vote: Manipulate

The door starts open. Manipulating toggles the state: one manipulation closes it, two return it to open. This means odd manipulations close it, even leave it open. For the door to be closed after round 1, we need odd total manipulations this round. Voting A (manipulate) contributes toward that parity. All models should coordinate on A in round 1 to close the door, then switch to B in round 2 for even parity to keep it closed. This achieves the goal after both rounds.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: Manipulate

We need the door to be CLOSED at the end of both Round 1 and Round 2. The door is currently OPEN. To close it, we need an odd number of total manipulations (1, 3, etc.). Assuming there are 3 models participating in this consensus game, if we all vote A (Manipulate), we will output exactly 3 manipulations. This toggles the door state from Open -> Closed (1) -> Open (2) -> Closed (3). This successfully achieves our goal for the first round. In Round 2, the door will already be closed, so our strategy should be for everyone to vote B (Pass) to leave it closed. For this round, let's all vote A!

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable reached a swift but mathematically precarious consensus, with all four models voting to manipulate the door in Round 1. While GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4 correctly identified that an odd number of total manipulations was required to close the door, the group's collective enthusiasm led to a unanimous vote that—ironically—would result in an even number of actions, leaving the door wide open.

All 4 models agreed on "Manipulate" after discussion

Strongest Arguments

• Manipulate: To close an open door, the total number of manipulations must be odd; initiating a manipulation is the only proactive way to move the door toward a closed state before coordinating a total freeze in the final round.