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Generating meaning: active inference and the scope and limits of passive AI

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journal contribution
posted on 2025-04-14, 14:15 authored by G Pezzulo, T Parr, P Cisek, Andrew ClarkAndrew Clark, K Friston
Prominent accounts of sentient behavior depict brains as generative models of organismic interaction with the world, evincing intriguing similarities with current advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI). However, because they contend with the control of purposive, life-sustaining sensorimotor interactions, the generative models of living organisms are inextricably anchored to the body and world. Unlike the passive models learned by generative AI systems, they must capture and control the sensory consequences of action. This allows embodied agents to intervene upon their worlds in ways that constantly put their best models to the test, thus providing a solid bedrock that is – we argue – essential to the development of genuine understanding. We review the resulting implications and consider future directions for generative AI.

Funding

Material Minds: Exploring the Interactions between Predictive Brains, Cultural Artifacts, and Embodied Visual Search : European Research Council | 951631

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

ISSN

1364-6613

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Issue

2

Volume

28

Page range

97-112

Department affiliated with

  • Philosophy Publications

Institution

University of Sussex

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes