November 2024 Newsletter 🔰🔌🏐 Active Inference Institute
Welcome to the November 2024 newsletter from the Active Inference Institute.
This month was marked by the two main concluding moments for the main phase of Institute activities in 2024 — the 4th Applied Active Inference Symposium, and Institute/Ecosystem paper.
In December 2024: we pause from almost all regular Project meetings, reflect on the past year, and look towards 2025.
Read on to learn about these exciting updates, see affordances for engagement/feedback, and support our work.
Institute updates
The 4th annual Applied Active Inference Symposium was held on November 13-15, 2024.
Program and video recording part 1, part 2, part 3, playlist of all sessions
30+ presentations over 3 days of live recorded sessions highlighted many ongoing directions and excitements for Applied Active Inference in 2024 and beyond.
Sessions organized with First Principles First over the 3 days developed on the concepts of bioregional modeling and Biofirm design.
In the days leading up to the Symposium, we published a snapshot of the Active Inference Institute/Ecosystem paper was published to Zenodo with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14108992
This document, now in its 2nd version (for context: 2023 version 1) summarizes the organizational form and function of the Active Inference Institute, in relation with the Active Inference Ecosystem (the broader global context of Active Inference learning and applications).
Here is the direct link to the living document which will continue to be updated and versioned through time.
Working with the large collaborative team of co-authors on this paper was a great experience. Here to sample from our team notes, are some ideas on what this document is or could be:
welcome booth, front door, stable reference point, entry point system, living document, wiki, coordination interface, compilation of methods, navigation map, sandbox environment, forest structure, fractal growth system, foraging adventure, shopping trip, chemistry-like domain structure, scientific method framework, knowledge structure, gap-clearing exercise, pole-vaulting experience, multi-path navigation system, ecosystem paths and wilds, mushroom-hunting expedition, abductive timeline, onboarding ramp, soft landing platform, knowledge repository, resource directory, comprehensive guide, operational manual, project tracker, field guide, navigation tool, community self-drawn map, domain explorer, institutional compass, resource catalog, contribution framework, networking hub, knowledge intersection, learning pathway generator, collaborative platform, institutional snapshot, reference compilation.
Through now, all activities at the Institute have been fully volunteer — each unique contribution by project participants, livestream presenters, organizational positions. As an Institute, we seek to develop multiple paths of support for people and projects, seeing this topic of collaborative persistence as vital (mortal, even) and welcoming comments/questions/opportunities related to:
Grants: this year was marked with several exciting collaborative grants, including “FarmWorks: Decentralized AI Agents for Personalized Solutions” (Zenodo link), and “VILLAGE (Validating Inference for Large-scale Agent Governance Ecosystems)” (document link). While these grants are pending, we keep an open eye for grant collaborations and opportunities.
Philanthropy: The Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and 2024 was the first year we began to accept direct financial donations. These donations, of any size, will be utilized effectively to support the accessibility, applicability, and rigor. This Donation link has a drop-down selection to provide general support, or restricted donations to a given project (including the initiatives of Research Fellows, and other core roles of the Institute. If you are excited for the future of the Institute and Ecosystem, and found meaning/value in our works this year, please consider providing support.
Please get in touch if you have general or specific feedback/questions on this year’s activity at the Institute, and/or any thoughts about 2025 (new collaborations? Internship or Mentorship? Partnership?Scientific Advisory Board? Board of Directors?).
We will provide more updates about via our Newsletter, DIscord, and other channels in the coming weeks. Till then: please send in a Measurement if you have any Active Inference-related updates to share. We may include those updates in the end-of-2024 newsletter.
Officers