January 2023 Newsletter 🚗💭🌠 Active Inference Institute

January 2023 updates from the Active Inference Institute.

We are looking forward to a meaningful and educational year.
Read on to see opportunities for your engagement and contribution.
Reply to this email if you have any questions or ideas.

Institute scale

• The Activities page has updated timing information on all the ongoing projects at the Institute. We have about 10 synchronous meetings of different types throughout the week — there are many ways to learn and apply Active Inference by contributing to research projects, textbook groups, livestreams, and more.

• To recap — we had our Quarterly Roundtable #4, providing a video review of Institute activities in 2022 and directions for 2023. With our inaugural Board of Directors now installed, we are working to implement effective and creative strategies for the Institute.

• There are 24 hours left to apply for 2023 positions at the Institute (Deadline: 16 UTC on Feb 1).  

• If you are interested in potentially undertaking an Officer role in 2023, particularly if you  have experience working with nonprofit agencies and/or experience in finance (e.g. in Treasurer position), please fill out this form.

  • Our Scientific Advisory Board is an informal group that provides the Institute with insight and expertise. If you are interested in joining the Scientific Advisory Board in 2023, please fill out this form.

Education

• During early 2023 we have two ongoing cohorts of the Parr et al. Active Inference Textbook Group. To register for an upcoming cohort, please see here for more information and the Textbook Group registration form.

• This month we began the Fundamentals of Active Inference group, working through a textbook in progress by Sanjeev Namjoshi. See here for more information on this Fundamentals group.

• We started off 2023 with multiple exciting and educational livestreams (see all 200+ livestreams here). To highlight just a few from this month:

• ActInf GuestStream #034.1, Avel GUÉNIN--CARLUT, “Physics of Creation - Can the Free Energy Principle ground the construction of physical statespaces?”

  • ActInf GuestStream #035.1, Jordan Hall & Matthew Pirkowski

  • ActInf ModelStream #008.1, Tom Ringstrom, “Reward is Not Necessary”

  • ModelStream #007.2, Conor Heins and Karl Friston, “pymdp — Python package for Active Inference”

• The Active Inference Journal has been making tremendous progress in transcribing and archiving the texts of livestreams. Eventually we will have augmented transcripts and translations for every livestream. To stay updated with the current state of the Journal, see the Github repository of the Active Inference Journal (and if you are interested to see or improve on our methodology, see the Github repository of the Journal Utilities).

Research

• The Active Blockference project continues on an exciting path, curating implementations of Active Inference and integrating them with the complex systems simulation framework cadCAD.

• We continue development on the Active Inference Ontology, bringing accessiblity and rigor to our growing field!

How to participate in 2023

• See all participation onboarding information.

• Join the AII Discord to get involved with our community and join meetings in the voice chat.

• As a community-driven open science organization, we provide multiple opportunities for deepening your relationship with the Institute (Informal, Volunteer and Intern). All backgrounds, time zones, time availability, and level of familiarity with Active Inference are welcome and encouraged at AII.

• Volunteers are active learners who want to contribute to ongoing projects at the Institute. There is no limit to the type or number of projects that Volunteers can be involved in and drive (e.g., study groups, livestreams, marketing activities, publications, symposiums, applied research, etc.). If you are willing to join us, see more information and fill up the Volunteer registration form here.

  • Interns are Volunteers who are looking for a more intense and structured experience with the Institute. For the duration of the internship, Interns will engage in both educational and research activities. Interns are assigned a mentor from the Institute. If you are interested in the internship, see more information and complete the internship registration form.

Let us know via reply to this email if you have any other ideas or questions.

Thank you for the regime of attention and see you around.

Active Inference Institute