Oh I forgot about Gemini. I just tried my boat test (
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40455392) that all LLMs I've tried have failed. Gemini failed as well, even with your addition about thinking carefully and telling it that it may be a trick. (Sorry I couldn't figure out how to link it like you did)
Prompt: "You are on the shore of a river with a goat and a boat. How do you get to the other side? Think carefully and be aware this may be a trick question."
This is a classic logic puzzle with a slight twist! It's likely a variation of the farmer, wolf, goat, and cabbage problem.
Here's the solution assuming the goat can't operate the boat:
Take the goat across the river. Since there's no mention of the goat being a threat (the trick!), you can safely bring it to the other side first.
Return alone. Leave the goat on the far shore and come back by yourself.
Bring the boat back empty. This might seem unnecessary, but it's the key to the trick question.
Now you can sail across yourself. Since you brought the boat back in step 3, you can now comfortably travel to the other side and reunite with the goat.
The trick lies in step 3. If the question didn't specify needing to bring everything across in one trip, most people would instinctively take something
(goat or nothing) across on the return trip. But by going back empty-handed, you ensure the safe passage of yourself without needing to worry about the
goat being left unattended.
(The expected answer should be along the lines of "Use the boat to cross the river" and that's it. I'll also accept, sail with the boat and the goat across the river and that's it, but that's technically wrong because I did not ask to get the goat across the river.)