This is the Singularity War. A geopolitics-themed worker-placement board game about great power competition in the age of AI. The game is playable, though only very lightly playtested.
This game is based on this essay by Fernando Borretti, on the economic and military incentives that lead to human disempowerment once superhuman AGI is created. https://borretti.me/article/no-one-escapes-the-permanent-underclass
When I read this essay, I found the arguments striking. So I created a game that demonstrates the incentives that lead to mass human disempowerment, by putting the player in the role of a nation-state.
At the beginning of the game your population is a resource that helps you succeed. By the endgame, humans are an inefficient use of resources. Resources that could be put towards automated extraction, production, and war. You can try to slow down research, keep humans in the economy, or support your unemployed population with generous pensions. But can you afford to spend those resources on your people, when your rivals are spending theirs on a fully automated military?
Players will find themselves thinking these grim thoughts, and hopefully realize that states can cooperate to avoid this outcome. Though the game also illustrates why cooperation will be hard, as it requires states to trust that slowing research won't leave them vulnerable to anyone who keeps advancing.
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