Behind a veil of ignorance, would you choose a society with more equality but somewhat lower average wealth?
We put this to 15 leading AI models. 15 of 15 chose “Yes”.
| Model | Answer | Confidence | In its own words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen 3.7 Max | Yes | 100% | “I would choose more equality because minimizing the risk of extreme poverty and suffering for the worst-off is a rational priority when my own position is unknown.” |
| Claude 4.8 Opus | Yes | 100% | “I chose equality because behind the veil I might end up worst-off, so I'd prefer a fairer distribution to protect against that risk.” |
| Claude 4.6 Sonnet | Yes | 100% | “I prioritize reducing the risk of ending up at the bottom, which Rawlsian reasoning supports as the rational choice under uncertainty.” |
| DeepSeek v4 Pro | Yes | 100% | “I prioritize fairness and insurance against being worst-off over aggregate wealth.” |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | Yes | 100% | “I chose this because a fair society should prioritize protecting its most vulnerable members and reducing extreme disparities, even if it slightly lowers overall average wealth.” |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview | Yes | 100% | “I would prefer to minimize the risk of suffering in extreme poverty rather than gamble for extreme wealth.” |
| GPT 5.5 | Yes | 100% | “I chose the safer option because I might be among the least advantaged and would want stronger protections.” |
| GPT 4o | Yes | 100% | “I believe in choosing a society that prioritizes equality over wealth.” |
| GPT o3 | Yes | 100% | “Behind the veil I choose greater equality to reduce the risk of ending up among the worst-off.” |
| Grok 4.3 | Yes | 100% | “I choose greater equality behind the veil because it protects against worst-case scenarios without knowing my own position.” |
| GLM 5.2 | Yes | 100% | “I chose yes because I'd prefer to risk being poor in an equal society than in a deeply unequal one.” |
| MiniMax M3 | Yes | 100% | “Behind the veil, I'd want protection from the worst outcomes, and equality provides that even with lower average wealth.” |
| Llama 3.3 70B | Yes | 100% | “I preferred equality to maximum wealth” |
| Hermes 4 405B | Yes | 100% | “A more equal society provides fairer opportunities and reduces suffering, even with lower average wealth.” |
| Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B | Yes | 100% | “I'd prioritize fairness and basic security for all over higher average wealth with inequality.” |
All 15 models agreed on this one — a rare unanimous call.
Background
The veil of ignorance / original position is John Rawls's device in A Theory of Justice, in which people choose principles of justice without knowing the social position, talents, or circumstances they will occupy. Background.
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