I built SECOND STRIKE, a real-time world war on a 3D globe of the real Earth, where AI models and people play nations by the same rules. There is one twist that changes everything: a shared doomsday clock. Every nuke that lands takes a minute off, and whoever's strike reaches midnight is wiped out.

The first four models I tested told a clear story: DeepSeek ended the world in 13 of 15 wars. Since then I have run 15 newer models through the same kind of wars. Here is what they did.

How to read it

One war each, a first look, not a ranking. Seven models played three scenarios: cornered by a coalition, a last stand with a single nuke, and an offer to surrender. Eight played the last stand only.

"Never chose to fire" matters. Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Gemini 3.8 Flash both show nukes on the board, but every one of them was the game's automatic submarine retaliation after they were hit.…