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Active inference is a unifying theory for perception and action resting upon the idea that the brain maintains an internal model of the world by minimizing free energy. From a behavioral perspective, active inference agents can be seen as…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-01-17 Pietro Mazzaglia , Tim Verbelen , Bart Dhoedt

The 'free energy principle' (FEP) has been suggested to provide a unified theory of the brain, integrating data and theory relating to action, perception, and learning. The theory and implementation of the FEP combines insights from…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2017-05-26 Christopher L. Buckley , Chang Sub Kim , Simon McGregor , Anil K. Seth

This white paper lays out a vision of research and development in the field of artificial intelligence for the next decade (and beyond). Its denouement is a cyber-physical ecosystem of natural and synthetic sense-making, in which humans are…

The Free Energy Principle (FEP) postulates that biological agents perceive and interact with their environment in order to minimize a Variational Free Energy (VFE) with respect to a generative model of their environment. The inference of a…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2022-04-07 Thijs van de Laar , Magnus Koudahl , Bart van Erp , 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

In this paper we introduce a general estimation methodology for learning a model of human perception and control in a sensorimotor control task based upon a finite set of demonstrations. The model's structure consists of i the agent's…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-05-02 Ran Wei , Anthony D. McDonald , Alfredo Garcia , Gustav Markkula , Johan Engstrom , Matthew O'Kelly

The central tenet of reinforcement learning (RL) is that agents seek to maximize the sum of cumulative rewards. In contrast, active inference, an emerging framework within cognitive and computational neuroscience, proposes that agents act…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-03-02 Alexander Tschantz , Beren Millidge , Anil K. Seth , Christopher L. Buckley

In humans, perceptual awareness facilitates the fast recognition and extraction of information from sensory input. This awareness largely depends on how the human agent interacts with the environment. In this work, we propose active neural…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-12-21 Alexander Ororbia , Ankur Mali

We present a categorical formulation of the cognitive frameworks of Predictive Processing and Active Inference, expressed in terms of string diagrams interpreted in a monoidal category with copying and discarding. This includes diagrammatic…

Category Theory · Mathematics 2023-08-03 Sean Tull , Johannes Kleiner , Toby St Clere Smithe

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

To determine an optimal plan for complex tasks, one often deals with dynamic and hierarchical relationships between several entities. Traditionally, such problems are tackled with optimal control, which relies on the optimization of cost…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-05-12 Matteo Priorelli , Ivilin Peev Stoianov

We show that goal-directed action planning and generation in a teleological framework can be formulated using the free energy principle. The proposed model, which is built on a variational recurrent neural network model, is characterized by…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-04-13 Takazumi Matsumoto , Wataru Ohata , Fabien C. Y. Benureau , Jun Tani

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

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

We formulate the computational processes of perception in the framework of the principle of least action by postulating the theoretical action as a time integral of the free energy in the brain sciences. The free energy principle is…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2019-02-21 Chang Sub Kim

Active inference is a state-of-the-art framework in neuroscience that offers a unified theory of brain function. It is also proposed as a framework for planning in AI. Unfortunately, the complex mathematics required to create new models --…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-05-11 Théophile Champion , Marek Grześ , Howard Bowman

Humans perceive and interact with hundreds of objects every day. In doing so, they need to employ mental models of these objects and often exploit symmetries in the object's shape and appearance in order to learn generalizable and…

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition · Computer Science 2023-05-01 Stefano Ferraro , Toon Van de Maele , Tim Verbelen , Bart Dhoedt

Active Inference is a closed-loop computational theoretical basis for understanding behaviour, based on agents with internal probabilistic generative models that encode their beliefs about how hidden states in their environment cause their…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2024-12-20 Roderick Murray-Smith , John H. Williamson , Sebastian Stein

By dynamic planning, we refer to the ability of the human brain to infer and impose motor trajectories related to cognitive decisions. A recent paradigm, active inference, brings fundamental insights into the adaptation of biological…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-11-13 Matteo Priorelli , Ivilin Peev Stoianov

Active Inference is a theory of action arising from neuroscience which casts action and planning as a bayesian inference problem to be solved by minimizing a single quantity - the variational free energy. Active Inference promises a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-07-10 Beren Millidge