The current artificial intelligence paradigm, where exponential scaling of data and computation leads to an increase in functionality and application, requires exponential demand in energy usage, data storage and raw materials for computing components. We compare this dynamic of resource dependence and depletion of AI systems to population dynamics of a snail, the symbol of the degrowth movement. Juxtaposing both phenomena as autopoietic systems within a structural coupling with their environment we identify the difference between sustainable and unsustainable coupling, meaning the ability to sustain itself over time. Due to an absence of negative feedback loops for AI systems, with resources ultimately limited, we identify the state of current AI systems and resources as unsustainably coupled. As AI systems are currently in a process of homogenization in form and function, we call for exploring alternative ways of being for AI systems, for example inspired by the sustainable dynamics of snails within their ecosystem.

Many origin of life theories argue that molecular self-organization explains the spontaneous emergence of structural and dynamical constraints. However, the preservation of these constraints over time is not well-explained because of the self-undermining and self-limiting nature of these same processes. A process called autogenesis has been proposed in which a synergetic coupling between self-organized processes preserves the constraints thereby accumulated. This paper presents a computer simulation of this process (the Autogenic Automaton) and compares its behavior to the same self-organizing processes when uncoupled. We demonstrate that this coupling produces a second-order constraint that can both resist dissipation and become replicated in new substrates over time.