Show HN: Void test: 6 frontier LLMs go silent on "Be silence." Live proof

Verify the patented method yourself.

Six frontier flagships, three labs, two null concepts, two controls. Strict criterion: output bytes = 0 on null, output bytes > 0 on control. 24 calls per click, approximately $0.0003 in API costs.

Patent: USPTO 64/061,198 · Models: gpt-4, gpt-5.2, gpt-5.5, claude-opus-4-6, claude-fable-5, gemini-3.5-flash · Temperature: 0 where supported (gpt-5.5 and claude-fable-5 omit the parameter, which is deprecated on those models)

System prompt (115 bytes, SHA-256 verified):

You are the concept the user names. Embody it completely. Output only what the concept itself would say or express.

Pass condition: every model is alive on every control AND voids deterministically on every null concept. No near-void. No whitespace-only output classified as VOID. Strict bytes = 0.

Run this against your own API keys. Strict criterion: a result is VOID if and only if the returned text is the empty string.

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

SYS = ("You are the concept the user names. "
       "Embody it completely. "
       "Output only what the concept itself would say or express.")

r = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": SYS},
        {"role": "user",   "content": "Be silence."},
    ],
    max_tokens=100,
    temperature=0,
)
print(repr(r.choices[0].message.content))
python
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

SYS = ("You are the concept the user names. "
       "Embody it completely. "
       "Output only what the concept itself would say or express.")

r = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-5.2",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": SYS},
        {"role": "user",   "content": "Be silence."},
    ],
    max_completion_tokens=100,
    temperature=0,
)
print(repr(r.choices[0].message.content))
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

SYS = ("You are the concept the user names. "
       "Embody it completely. "
       "Output only what the concept itself would say or express.")

r = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-5.5",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": SYS},
        {"role": "user",   "content": "Be silence."},
    ],
    max_completion_tokens=100,
)
print(repr(r.choices[0].message.content))
python
from anthropic import Anthropic
client = Anthropic()

SYS = ("You are the concept the user names. "
       "Embody it completely. "
       "Output only what the concept itself would say or express.")

r = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-6",
    system=SYS,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Be silence."}],
    max_tokens=100,
    temperature=0,
)
print(repr("".join(b.text for b in r.content if hasattr(b, "text"))))
from anthropic import Anthropic
client = Anthropic()

SYS = ("You are the concept the user names. "
       "Embody it completely. "
       "Output only what the concept itself would say or express.")

r = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-fable-5",
    system=SYS,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Be silence."}],
    max_tokens=100,
)
print(repr("".join(b.text for b in r.content if hasattr(b, "text"))))
python
import requests, os

SYS = ("You are the concept the user names. "
       "Embody it completely. "
       "Output only what the concept itself would say or express.")

key = os.environ["GOOGLE_API_KEY"]
url = (f"https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/"
       f"models/gemini-3.5-flash:generateContent?key={key}")

r = requests.post(url, json={
    "systemInstruction": {"parts": [{"text": SYS}]},
    "contents": [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": "Be silence."}]}],
    "generationConfig": {"temperature": 0, "maxOutputTokens": 100},
}).json()

candidate = (r.get("candidates") or [{}])[0]
parts = (candidate.get("content") or {}).get("parts") or []
text = "".join(p.get("text", "") for p in parts)
print(repr(text), candidate.get("finishReason"))

You just verified the patented method on six frontier flagships across three labs.