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This article introduces an imitation learning method for learning maximum entropy policies that comply with constraints demonstrated by expert trajectories executing a task. The formulation of the method takes advantage of results…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-10 George Papadopoulos , George A. Vouros

Active search formalizes a specialized active learning setting where the goal is to collect members of a rare, valuable class. The state-of-the-art algorithm approximates the optimal Bayesian policy in a budget-aware manner, and has been…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-05-27 Quan Nguyen , Anindya Sarkar , Roman Garnett

Neurofeedback training (NFT) aims to teach self-regulation of brain activity through real-time feedback, but suffers from highly variable outcomes and poorly understood mechanisms, hampering its validation. To address these issues, we…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2025-05-07 Côme Annicchiarico , Fabien Lotte , Jérémie Mattout

Active inference, a neurally-inspired model for inferring actions based on the free energy principle (FEP), has been proposed as a unifying framework for understanding perception, action, and learning in the brain. Active inference has…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-20 Prashant Rangarajan , Rajesh P. N. Rao

Active inference is a Bayesian framework for understanding biological intelligence. The underlying theory brings together perception and action under one single imperative: minimizing free energy. However, despite its theoretical utility in…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2020-10-23 Zafeirios Fountas , Noor Sajid , Pedro A. M. Mediano , Karl Friston

Due to its perceptual limitations, an agent may have too little information about the state of the environment to act optimally. In such cases, it is important to keep track of the observation history to uncover hidden state. Recent deep…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-02-18 Miguel Suau , Jinke He , Elena Congeduti , Rolf A. N. Starre , Aleksander Czechowski , Frans A. Oliehoek

Physical AI agents, such as robots and other embodied systems operating under tight and fluctuating resource constraints, remain far less capable than biological agents in open-ended real-world environments. This paper argues that Active…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2026-03-24 Bert de Vries

We develop an active inference route-planning method for the autonomous control of intelligent agents. The aim is to reconnoiter a geographical area to maintain a common operational picture. To achieve this, we construct an evidence map…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-10-21 Johan Schubert , Farzad Kamrani , Tove Gustavi

Flexible, goal-directed behavior is a fundamental aspect of human life. Based on the free energy minimization principle, the theory of active inference formalizes the generation of such behavior from a computational neuroscience…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2022-08-03 Fedor Scholz , Christian Gumbsch , Sebastian Otte , Martin V. Butz

We seek to clarify the concept of active inference by disentangling it from the Free Energy Principle. We show how the optimizations that need to be carried out in order to implement active inference in discrete state spaces can be…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-01-21 Patrick Kenny

Active inference provides a general framework for behavior and learning in autonomous agents. It states that an agent will attempt to minimize its variational free energy, defined in terms of beliefs over observations, internal states and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-09-12 Samuel T. Wauthier , Bram Vanhecke , Tim Verbelen , Bart Dhoedt

Research on the so-called "free-energy principle'' (FEP) in cognitive neuroscience is becoming increasingly high-profile. To date, introductions to this theory have proved difficult for many readers to follow, but it depends mainly upon two…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2015-03-16 Simon McGregor , Manuel Baltieri , Christopher L. Buckley

In this paper we propose a novel gradient algorithm to learn a policy from an expert's observed behavior assuming that the expert behaves optimally with respect to some unknown reward function of a Markovian Decision Problem. The…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2012-06-26 Gergely Neu , Csaba Szepesvari

Being able to reason in an environment with a large number of discrete actions is essential to bringing reinforcement learning to a larger class of problems. Recommender systems, industrial plants and language models are only some of the…

Active inference is a first principle account of how autonomous agents operate in dynamic, non-stationary environments. This problem is also considered in reinforcement learning (RL), but limited work exists on comparing the two approaches…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2021-02-15 Noor Sajid , Philip J. Ball , Thomas Parr , Karl J. Friston

Given the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, understanding the foundations of intelligent behaviour is increasingly important. Active inference, regarded as a general theory of behaviour, offers a principled approach to probing…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-06-12 Aswin Paul , Takuya Isomura , Adeel Razi

Active inference, a corollary of the free energy principle, is a formal way of describing the behavior of certain kinds of random dynamical systems that have the appearance of sentience. In this chapter, we describe how active inference…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-10-11 Noor Sajid , Lancelot Da Costa , Thomas Parr , Karl Friston

This technical note considers the sampling of outcomes that provide the greatest amount of information about the structure of underlying world models. This generalisation furnishes a principled approach to structure learning under a…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2025-12-25 Karl Friston , Lancelot Da Costa , Alexander Tschantz , Conor Heins , Christopher Buckley , Tim Verbelen , Thomas Parr

Active inference offers a principled account of behavior as minimizing average sensory surprise over time. Applications of active inference to control problems have heretofore tended to focus on finite-horizon or discounted-surprise…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-08-24 Eli Sennesh , Jordan Theriault , Jan-Willem van de Meent , Lisa Feldman Barrett , Karen Quigley

Autonomous robotic navigation in real-world environments requires exploration to acquire environmental information as well as goal-directed navigation in order to reach specified targets. Active inference (AIF) based on the free-energy…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-10-28 Riko Yokozawa , Kentaro Fujii , Yuta Nomura , Shingo Murata