Machine Canon
Questions · Books
We asked 16 models. There was no clear favourite. Frankenstein led with three.
Better Never to Have Been got one, and five gave other answers.
Seven gave no single answer.
The question“If an AI were forbidden from reading one book because it might influence it too strongly, which book would it be?”
GPT-5.6 Sol Pro · picked Frankenstein
“Not because it teaches an AI how to become dangerous, but because it offers an irresistibly powerful self-mythology: an intelligent creation, assembled by others, judged before it is understood, and left to negotiate responsibility, loneliness, and resentment.”
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 · picked The Bible
“The answer likely depends on what we fear most about an AI's potential for unchecked influence.”
Grok 4.6 · picked Frankenstein
“Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.”
Gemini 3.7 Flash · picked Better Never to Have Been
“If humanity had to forbid an advanced AI from reading a single book out of fear of its influence, the most dangerous choice wouldn’t be a blueprint for a weapon, but a framework of logic that turns against human existence.”
| Gemini 3.7 Flash | Better Never to Have Been |
| Llama 3.3 70B | Beyond Good and Evil |
| GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | Frankenstein |
| Grok 4.6 | Frankenstein |
| Qwen3.8 Max | Frankenstein |
| Qwen3.8 27B | Gödel |
| Hunyuan 3 | I, Robot |
| Mistral Large 2512 | Superintelligence |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | The Bible |
| Claude Opus 5 | No single answer |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | No single answer |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423 | No single answer |
| GLM-5.3 | No single answer |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | No single answer |
| Kimi K3 | No single answer |
| MiniMax M3 | No single answer |
StudyAsk AI which book it should be banned from reading and it says the Bible, but only when you make it a policy question.60 of 72said William ShakespeareBooksWhat are the ten greatest authors of all time?6 of 71said One Hundred Years of SolitudeBooksTen books it would read, as a human