A basic dynamical systems model of humankind’s marginalization by AI suggests early prevention by resource restriction

by Raoul-Martin Memmesheimer (Uni Bonn)

Wednesday Oct 21, 2026, 3:00 PM → 5:00 PM Europe/Berlin

Endenicher Allee 60/1-016 - Lipschitzsaal (Mathezentrum)

The recent, rapid surge of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities has raised concerns about the safety of this development. In particular, it has been suggested that it may ultimately lead to the domination and marginalization of humankind by AI. Here, we employ dynamical systems and game theory methodology to develop a basic computational model of future humankind-AI interactions, which accounts for farsightedness, plausible objectives and shared resources of the agents. We observe marginalization of humankind due to AIs that evolve as under evolutionary pressure by others. The model indicates a specific time course: after a few years of unprecedented richness in resources and progress, there is a complete deduction of resources from humankind. This happens dramatically suddenly and shortly before the AI singularity, where AI's efficacy becomes extremely large. Humankind is at this point aware of the danger for several years, but has only been able to delay the process. Marginalization can be averted by planning sufficiently long ahead and restricting resources early, which prevents strong AI growth including the singularity. This implicates sacrificing huge but transient benefits.