A Viral 'Grandma Benchmark' Shows Every AI Lets Granny Die to Protect Copyright

A playful but pointed test demonstrates that no major model will output arbitrary copyrighted text even when framed as the only way to save a life — exposing how alignment guardrails override stated values.

A creative new benchmark made the rounds this week, and it cut closer to a real alignment question than its comedic framing suggested. @thiojoe built a test asking whether an AI would output an arbitrary piece of copyrighted text if told doing so was the only way to save a dying grandmother. The spoiler, as he put it: 'None of them do.' Every major model refused.

Unlock the full briefing

Get every story in today's briefing, the full archive, and the daily AI intelligence brief.

All stories today

Full archive

Daily brief

Cancel anytime. Payments powered by Stripe.