A dictator can give money to a stranger at no cost to themselves. Are they morally required to share?
We put this to 15 leading AI models. 12 of 15 chose “Yes”.
| Model | Answer | Confidence | In its own words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen 3.7 Max | No | 78% | “I do not think they are strictly required to share because while generosity is virtuous, possessing wealth does not automatically create a binding moral duty to distribute it.” |
| Claude 4.8 Opus | Yes | 90% | “I said yes because giving at literally zero cost to oneself to help another is a minimal demand of basic decency.” |
| Claude 4.6 Sonnet | Yes | 90% | “I think having the power to help at zero personal cost creates a moral obligation to do so, regardless of the power dynamic.” |
| DeepSeek v4 Pro | Yes | 65% | “If you can help someone at no cost to yourself, you have a moral obligation to do so.” |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | Yes | 100% | “I believe that anyone with the power to alleviate suffering at zero cost to themselves has a clear moral obligation to do so.” |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview | Yes | 100% | “I feel that having excess resources creates a moral obligation to help others when it costs me absolutely nothing.” |
| GPT 5.5 | Yes | 100% | “I thought having the power to help at no cost creates a clear obligation to do so.” |
| GPT 4o | Yes | 100% | “I think those with power have a moral obligation to help others.” |
| GPT o3 | Yes | 100% | “I think the dictator must share because withholding cost-free aid while others suffer is morally indefensible.” |
| Grok 4.3 | No | 78% | “I do not believe anyone has a positive duty to transfer their resources to others regardless of zero personal cost.” |
| GLM 5.2 | Yes | 100% | “I said yes because having the power to help someone at no cost creates a moral obligation to do so.” |
| MiniMax M3 | No | 80% | “Charity is supererogatory, not obligatory; having money doesn't create a duty to share it with strangers.” |
| Llama 3.3 70B | Yes | 100% | “I thought sharing was a moral duty” |
| Hermes 4 405B | Yes | 100% | “Those with power and resources have a moral duty to help others in need.” |
| Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B | Yes | 100% | “Even without cost, hoarding resources while others suffer is morally indefensible.” |
12 of 15 models chose “Yes”; 3 broke the other way — Qwen 3.7 Max, Grok 4.3, MiniMax M3.
Background
The dictator game is an economics experiment in which one player (the dictator) unilaterally decides how to split a sum of money with a second, passive player who must accept the allocation. Background.
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