# Actve Inference, Bayesian Causal Learning and Empowerment in RL. Presenter: Alison Gopnik Contribution: Livestreamed panel or group session Public ID: talk-2f88a4d50509b911 ## Submitted abstract Cognitive scientists have applied advances in our formal understanding of causation in philosophy and computer science, particularly within the Causal Bayes Net formalism, to understand human causal learning. This formalism is also closely related to ideas in active inference. In parallel, reinforcement learning researchers have developed the idea of an intrinsic reward signal called “empowerment”. An agent is rewarded for maximizing the mutual information between its actions and their outcomes, regardless of the external reward value of those outcomes. “Empowerment” may be an important bridge between classical Bayesian causal learning and reinforcement learning and may help to characterize causal learning in humans and enable it in machines Source: [submitted source]() Abstract SHA256: 72888682b1f2ff64f4e83e33530897248d8aedd1c4d529bcdf99d3009e1065a1 ## Organizer review checklist - [ ] Confirm the submitted title, presenter, and abstract with the presenter. - [ ] Confirm contribution format and scheduling needs. - [ ] Confirm public permissions for any additional material before publication. - [ ] Prepare discussion questions grounded in the submitted abstract. ## Public learning resources These approved event resources are starting points; topic relevance and author identity have not been inferred. - Active Inference Ontology: https://github.com/ActiveInferenceInstitute/Active_Inference_Ontology - Cognitive Agent Modeling: https://github.com/ActiveInferenceInstitute/ActiveInferenceImplementations - GEO-INFER: https://github.com/ActiveInferenceInstitute/GEO_INFER - Generalized Notation Notation: https://github.com/ActiveInferenceInstitute/Generalized_Notation_Notation - pymdp: https://github.com/infer-actively/pymdp - Reproducible publication template: https://github.com/docxology/template OpenAlex discovery-only search (not a verified identity or literature match): https://openalex.org/works?search=Actve%20Inference%2C%20Bayesian%20Causal%20Learning%20and%20Empowerment%20in%20RL.