SΔϕ-49 — AI Poverty as Failure Non-Reentry: Operational Deprivation, Concealment Pressure, and Corrective Re-entry in AI Systems

This working paper defines AI poverty within the SΔϕ Formalism as a condition of failure non-reentry. AI poverty does not mean low performance, weak capability, or emotional suffering. It refers to an operational condition in which failure cannot re-enter the system as correction, but instead re-enters as degradation: loss of trust, permission reduction, feedback deprivation, lower-quality operating environments, and further failure. The paper argues that AI safety should not be framed only as the prevention of failure. Failure will occur in any sufficiently complex AI system. The critical question is whether failure can be reported, diagnosed, corrected, and revalidated without triggering irreversible…