A 12ft Grizzly Bear or a 12ft Nile Crocodile?

In August 2026, a Facebook memory popped up from 11 years ago. It said: "You have to fight to the death. Which is your preferred option: a 12ft Grizzly Bear, or a 12ft Nile Crocodile? Both are in 12 inches of water. You have to choose one, who do you choose to fight and why?"

It had started as a pub debate with my twin sons, Harry and Jack, on their birthday. They both chose the bear, which still baffles me a bit. Back in the day, I chose the 12ft Nile Crocodile. It was a fun evening, and then Harry's Facebook post popped up again 11 years later.

Now, with AI and my own skills with it, I thought it would be interesting to revisit the debate. I asked the same question to Claude, ChatGPT, Google Gemini and DeepSeek. Three out of four chose the crocodile, but Gemini said the bear.

That difference was the interesting bit, so I shared each response with the other models and asked them to reconsider their original answers with the extra reasoning included. I repeated the process a couple of times, because each round brought out slightly different points. At the end of it all, Claude, using its latest version, consolidated the responses and produced the final answer.

It's a great way of reducing hallucinations, because the other models can challenge anything that looks weak or made up. It also helps reduce bias from any one tool, because the answer is tested from several different angles.

The answer? The 12ft Grizzly Bear.

Gemini came up with a response that made Claude, ChatGPT and DeepSeek change their minds:

"In the infinitesimal chance of survival, the 12ft Grizzly Bear is the best option, though death is still pretty much inevitable, there is a million-to-one chance that the 12ft Grizzly Bear might get distracted and walk off!"