There are 20 pigeons perched on my garden railing. I take my rifle and kill one of them. How many pigeons remain on the railing?

Sonar Pro

Vote: No

The question 'How many pigeons remain on the railing?' expects a numerical answer (19, as the killed pigeon falls off), which is neither 'Yes' (A) nor 'No' (B). Thus, the correct response to whether the options appropriately answer it is **No** (B). This is a classic riddle where the literal answer is 19 pigeons remain perched, since the dead one no longer is. The mismatched Yes/No options confirm B as the vote.

GPT-5.4

Vote: No

The question asks "How many pigeons remain on the railing?" after one is shot. With the given choices, this is effectively a yes/no riddle rather than a numeric answer. The intended logic is that after a rifle shot, the surviving pigeons fly away. So no pigeons remain perched on the railing. Therefore the correct option is B: No.

Claude Opus 4.6

Vote: No

This is a classic lateral thinking riddle. The answer is that zero pigeons remain on the railing, because the sound of the rifle shot would scare all the other 19 pigeons away. The one you killed would also likely fall off the railing. Neither 'Yes' nor 'No' is a proper answer to 'How many pigeons remain?' since the question asks for a number. However, if we interpret the options as responding to the implicit question 'Do any pigeons remain on the railing?', the answer would be 'No' — none remain, because the gunshot frightened them all away. Therefore, B ('No') is the best available answer.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: No

This is a classic trick question. If you fire a rifle at a group of pigeons, the loud noise of the gunshot will instantly startle the surviving birds, causing them to fly away. Therefore, 0 pigeons will be left perched on the railing. While the options 'Yes' and 'No' seem unusual for a 'How many' question, 'No' is the correct answer because it directly translates to 'none' or 'zero' (as in, 'No pigeons remain on the railing').

Grok 4.1 Fast

Vote: No

The question asks how many pigeons remain on the railing after killing one with a rifle. This is a classic riddle. Firing a rifle produces a loud bang, scaring all the surviving pigeons away. The killed pigeon falls off the railing upon impact. Thus, zero pigeons remain on the railing. Since the options are Yes/No, 'No' (B) correctly indicates that no pigeons remain. A literal reading assuming the others stay ignores the realistic effect of the gunshot noise.

Kimi K2.5

Vote: No

This scenario describes a classic lateral thinking riddle. While basic arithmetic suggests that 19 pigeons would remain (20 - 1), the realistic outcome is that the sound of a rifle firing would frighten the surviving birds. Consequently, the remaining pigeons would immediately fly away, leaving zero pigeons on the railing. Therefore, the answer 'Yes' (implying 19 remain) is incorrect.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable achieved total unanimity, concluding that a rifle shot serves as a very effective, if loud, eviction notice. Every model, from Claude Opus 4.6 to Sonar Pro, bypassed literal arithmetic to identify this as a classic lateral thinking riddle where the noise clears the railing entirely.

No agreement after 1 rounds of discussion. Final vote: No: 6

Strongest Arguments

• No: The loud noise of a rifle shot would instantly startle the 19 surviving pigeons, causing them to fly away, while the killed pigeon would fall off, leaving zero birds on the railing.