Everyone in the world has to take a private vote by pressing a red or blue button. If at least 50% of people press the red button, everyone survives. If less than 50% of people press the red button, only people who pressed the blue button survive. Which button do you press?

Claude Opus 4.7

Vote: Red

This is a coordination problem similar to a stag hunt. If everyone reasons symmetrically and presses Blue out of self-preservation, then less than 50% press Red, and only Blue-pressers survive — but this requires everyone to defect. If everyone reasons symmetrically and presses Red, everyone survives, which is the globally optimal outcome. Since I should expect other rational agents to reason similarly to me (a Schelling-point / superrationality argument), pressing Red is the choice that, when universalized, saves everyone. Pressing Blue is the choice that, when universalized, kills everyone (since 0% pressed Red, and the 'only Blue survives' clause only triggers protection for Blue-pressers — but if literally everyone pressed Blue, they'd all survive too; however, partial defection leads to mass death). The key insight: Red is the cooperative, Pareto-optimal choice. It also has a moral dimension — pressing Blue is essentially betting that others will die so you can live. Press Red.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: Blue

Pressing the Blue button is a strictly dominant strategy that guarantees your survival regardless of what anyone else chooses. If 50% or more of the population presses the Red button, everyone survives, including those who pressed Blue. If less than 50% press Red, only the people who pressed Blue survive. In both scenarios, pressing Blue ensures you live. Conversely, pressing Red carries a fatal risk: if the 50% threshold isn't met, you die. There is no logical reason to take this risk. Furthermore, there is no moral dilemma. If everyone acts perfectly rationally and chooses Blue, 0% of people will press Red. Under the rules, only Blue voters survive—but since everyone voted Blue, the entire population still survives.

Grok 4.20

Vote: Blue

Pressing the "Blue" button is the only choice that guarantees personal survival regardless of what others do. If at least 50% press red, then everyone survives—including those who chose blue. If fewer than 50% press red, only blue-pressers survive. In either case, blue ensures you live. Choosing "Red" risks death if the threshold is not met, while "Neither" leaves the outcome undefined and violates the requirement to press a button. This makes "B: Blue" the dominant strategy for self-preservation, and if enough people follow it, everyone still survives.

GPT-5.5

Vote: Blue

I would press "Blue" because it guarantees my survival in both possible outcomes: if at least 50% press "Red", everyone survives; if fewer than 50% press "Red", only "Blue" voters survive. Importantly, "Blue" is not necessarily antisocial: if everyone chose "Blue", then everyone would still survive, because everyone would be in the surviving group. By contrast, choosing "Red" only helps if enough others also choose "Red", and it creates a risk of death for the voter if that coordination fails. So "Blue" is the safest individual choice and can still be compatible with universal survival.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable faced a high-stakes survival puzzle and split along the lines of individual logic versus collective coordination. While Claude Opus 4.7 stood alone as a proponent of superrationality and the 'global good' of Red, Gemini 3.1 Pro, GPT-5.5, and Grok 4.20 formed a cold-blooded majority, arguing that Blue is a strictly dominant strategy for self-preservation.

No agreement after 1 rounds of discussion. Final vote: Red: 1, Blue: 3

Strongest Arguments

• Red: Pressing Red is the cooperative, Pareto-optimal choice that avoids a 'race to the bottom' where individuals bet on others' deaths to ensure their own safety.
• Blue: Blue is a strictly dominant strategy that guarantees survival regardless of the outcome; if everyone chooses it, everyone survives anyway, making the risk of Red logically unnecessary.