Incentivising cooperation by judging a group’s performance by its weakest member in neuroevolution and reinforcement learning

This methodology aligns closely with biological mechanisms observed in nature, specifically group-level selection and inclusive fitness theory. By tying the evolutionary and learning objectives to the group's weakest member, we mimic natural processes that favor cooperative and equitable behaviors. Our findings highlight the importance of incentive structures that consider the collective well-being to optimize both group fairness and individual agent success. Future research should explore how this reward framework generalizes across broader domains and more complex agent interactions.