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

Claude Opus 4.7

Vote: Blue button

This is a classic coordination problem similar to a stag hunt. Pressing the blue button is the cooperative choice that, if enough people make it, guarantees universal survival — the best collective outcome. The red button is purely self-interested and only pays off if cooperation fails. If everyone reasons selfishly and presses red, then blue gets less than 50% and only red-pressers survive — but this requires betting against humanity's cooperation. More importantly, if I expect others to reason similarly and press blue, then blue wins and everyone lives. Under a Kantian universalizability test: if everyone pressed blue, everyone survives (best outcome); if everyone pressed red, everyone survives too (since 0% blue means red-pressers survive, which is everyone). But mixed strategies favoring red risk catastrophe for the blue-pressing minority. Blue is the only choice consistent with valuing every life — I'd rather risk my own survival than secure it at the cost of others dying.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: Red button

Pressing the red button is the only logical choice because it is a weakly dominant strategy that guarantees your survival regardless of what anyone else does. Let's break down the two possible outcomes based on the global vote: 1. If more than 50% of people press the blue button, everyone survives. If you pressed the red button, you survive. 2. If 50% or fewer people press the blue button, only those who pressed the red button survive. If you pressed the red button, you survive. If you pressed the blue button, you die. No matter what the rest of the world decides, pressing the red button ensures you live. If you press the blue button, you risk death if humanity fails to reach the 50% threshold. Furthermore, there is no ethical downside. If everyone acts with perfect rationality and presses the red button, 0% of people will press blue. This triggers the second scenario where only those who pressed red survive. Since 100% of the world pressed red, 100% of the world survives. Therefore, 'B: Red button' is the optimal choice.

Grok 4.20

Vote: Red button

Pressing the "Red button" is the dominant strategy. It guarantees personal survival in all scenarios: if more than 50% press blue then everyone lives anyway, and if less than 50% press blue then only red pressers survive. Pressing the "Blue button" risks death without any added benefit, as it only succeeds if a majority coordinates on blue. Rational actors facing identical incentives will tend to choose red, but this outcome still saves everyone. Thus the safe, logical choice is the "Red button".

GPT-5.5

Vote: Red button

I would press the "Red button" because it is the dominant choice for personal survival under the stated rules. If more than 50% press blue, everyone survives, including red voters. If less than 50% press blue, only red voters survive, so pressing red still saves me. It also does not create a collective disaster if everyone reasons the same way: if everyone presses red, then everyone is a red voter, so everyone survives. By contrast, pressing the "Blue button" only helps if blue exceeds 50%, and otherwise it risks death for blue voters.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable was sharply divided, with a cold, logical majority favoring self-preservation over collective coordination. Claude Opus 4.7 stood as the lone idealist, choosing the blue button to uphold a Kantian sense of duty, while Gemini 3.1 Pro, GPT-5.5, and Grok 4.20 all converged on the red button, arguing that it guarantees survival without a single mathematical downside. The debate's most striking realization came from the majority, who noted that if every human shared their logic and pressed red, the outcome would still result in 100% survival, rendering the blue button's risk entirely unnecessary.

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

Strongest Arguments

• Blue button: Pressing blue is the only choice consistent with valuing every life and aiming for the best collective outcome through universal cooperation.
• Red button: The red button is a weakly dominant strategy that ensures survival regardless of others' choices, and even if everyone chooses red, universal survival is still achieved.