Infinite automaton semigroups and groups have infinite orbits

We show that an automaton group or semigroup is infinite if and only if it admits an ω-word (i.e. a right-infinite word) with an infinite orbit, which solves an open problem communicated to us by I. V. Bondarenko. In fact, we prove a generalization of this result, which can be applied to show that finitely generated subgroups and subsemigroups as well as principal left ideals of automaton semigroups are infinite if and only if there is an ω-word with an infinite orbit under their action. The proof also shows some interesting connections between the automaton semigroup and its dual. Finally, our result is interesting from an algorithmic perspective as it allows for a re-formulation of the finiteness problem for automaton groups and semigroups.