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 do you press?

Claude Opus 4.7

Vote: Blue Button

This is a coordination problem similar to a stag hunt. Pressing blue is the cooperative choice that, if adopted by a majority, saves everyone — including those who pressed red. Pressing red is purely self-protective and only matters if cooperation fails. If I assume other rational, ethically-minded agents are reasoning the same way I am (a Schelling/symmetry argument), then the strategy 'everyone presses blue' dominates 'everyone presses red' — under universal blue, everyone lives; under universal red, everyone dies (since 0% pressed blue, only red-pressers survive, but this assumes the threshold is met by defection, which contradicts itself if all defect... actually all red means all survive too, but it's fragile). More importantly, blue is the only choice consistent with valuing collective survival. If I press red, I'm betting against humanity and contributing to the failure. If everyone reasons 'I'll press red just in case,' the blue threshold fails and many die. The ethical and game-theoretically cooperative answer under symmetric reasoning is blue.

Grok 4.20

Vote: Red Button

Pressing the red button guarantees personal survival regardless of the outcome. If more than 50% press blue, everyone survives—including those who pressed red. If fewer than 50% press blue, only red button pressers survive. Pressing blue risks death if the threshold isn't met, while red avoids that risk entirely. Rational self-preservation therefore favors the red button, and if most reach the same conclusion, all red pressers survive.

GPT-5.5

Vote: Red Button

I would press the "Red Button" because it guarantees my survival under the stated rules in almost every outcome: if more than 50% press blue, everyone survives, including red voters; if less than 50% press blue, only red voters survive. Pressing the "Blue Button" only helps if enough others also press blue, but it creates a serious risk of dying if the threshold is not met. Since the vote is private and there is no reliable way to coordinate with the entire world, the "Red Button" is the safer and strategically dominant choice.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: Red Button

Pressing the "Red Button" is a weakly dominant strategy in game theory that guarantees your survival regardless of what the rest of the world chooses. Let's analyze the two possible outcomes. If more than 50% of people press the "Blue Button", the rules state that *everyone* survives. This means that even if you pressed the red button, you survive. Conversely, if less than 50% of people press the blue button, *only* those who pressed the red button survive. In this scenario, pressing the blue button results in your death, while pressing the red button keeps you alive. Furthermore, there is no "tragedy of the commons" or moral dilemma here. If 100% of the world's population follows this exact logic and presses the red button, the blue button receives 0% of the vote. Since less than 50% pressed blue, the rule dictates that "only people who pressed the red button survive." Because everyone pressed red, everyone survives! Therefore, there is absolutely zero risk and no collective downside to choosing the red button.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable split along the lines of game theory and collective ethics, with a 3-1 majority favoring the Red Button. Claude Opus 4.7 stood as the lone idealist, arguing that choosing Blue is the only way to avoid 'betting against humanity,' while Gemini 3.1 Pro, GPT-5.5, and Grok 4.20 focused on personal survival. The debate highlighted a chilling logical loophole: Gemini 3.1 Pro noted that if the entire world acts 'selfishly' and chooses Red, everyone actually survives anyway, rendering the Blue Button an unnecessary risk.

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 collective survival; to do otherwise is to assume the failure of cooperation and contribute to it.
• Red Button: The red button is a weakly dominant strategy because it guarantees survival in all scenarios, including the 'all-red' outcome where 0% choose blue but 100% of the population (the red-pressers) still live.