Does Empowerment Maximisation Allow for Enactive Artificial Agents?

Christian Guckelsberger; Christoph Salge

Does Empowerment Maximisation Allow for Enactive Artificial Agents?

Christian Guckelsberger, Christoph Salge

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

10 Citations (Scopus)

196 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The enactive AI framework wants to overcome the sense-making limitations of embodied AI by drawing on the bio-systemic foundations of enactive cognitive science. While embodied AI tries to ground meaning in sensorimotor interaction, enactive AI adds further requirements by grounding sensorimotor interaction in autonomous agency. At the core of this shift is the requirement for a truly intrinsic value function. We suggest that empowerment, an information-theoretic quantity based on an agent's embodiment, represents such a function. We highlight the role of empowerment maximisation in satisfying the requirements of enactive AI, i.e. establishing constitutive autonomy and adaptivity, in detail. We then argue that empowerment, grounded in a precarious existence, allows an agent to enact a world based on the relevance of environmental features in respect to its own identity.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (Alife 2016)
Editors	Carlos Gershenson, Tom Froese, Jesus M. Siqueiros, Wendy Aguilar, Eduardo J. Izqueirdo, Hiroki Sayama
Place of Publication	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Publisher	MIT Press
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9780262339360
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2016
Event	Artificial Life Conference 2016: The 15th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems - Cancun, Mexico Duration: 4 Jul 2016 → 8 Jul 2016

Publication series

Name	Complex Adaptive Systems
Publisher	The MIT Press

Conference

Conference	Artificial Life Conference 2016
Country/Territory	Mexico
City	Cancun
Period	4/07/16 → 8/07/16

Cite this

Guckelsberger, Christian ; Salge, Christoph. / Does Empowerment Maximisation Allow for Enactive Artificial Agents?. Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (Alife 2016). editor / Carlos Gershenson ; Tom Froese ; Jesus M. Siqueiros ; Wendy Aguilar ; Eduardo J. Izqueirdo ; Hiroki Sayama. Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, 2016. (Complex Adaptive Systems).

@inproceedings{04ca56efc8334b41a69fd5bb6309a330,

title = "Does Empowerment Maximisation Allow for Enactive Artificial Agents?",

abstract = "The enactive AI framework wants to overcome the sense-making limitations of embodied AI by drawing on the bio-systemic foundations of enactive cognitive science. While embodied AI tries to ground meaning in sensorimotor interaction, enactive AI adds further requirements by grounding sensorimotor interaction in autonomous agency. At the core of this shift is the requirement for a truly intrinsic value function. We suggest that empowerment, an information-theoretic quantity based on an agent's embodiment, represents such a function. We highlight the role of empowerment maximisation in satisfying the requirements of enactive AI, i.e. establishing constitutive autonomy and adaptivity, in detail. We then argue that empowerment, grounded in a precarious existence, allows an agent to enact a world based on the relevance of environmental features in respect to its own identity.",

author = "Christian Guckelsberger and Christoph Salge",

note = "Christian Guckelsberger and Christoph Salge, 'Does Empowerment Maximisation Allow for Enactive Artificial Agents?' in Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (Alife 2016), Cancun, Mexico, 4-8 July 2016. Carlos Gershenson, Tom Froese, Jesus M. Siqueiros, Wendy Aguilar, Eduardo J. Izquierdo and Hiroki Sayama eds., ISBN 9780262339360. Published by MIT Press.; Artificial Life Conference 2016 : The 15th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems ; Conference date: 04-07-2016 Through 08-07-2016",

year = "2016",

month = jul,

day = "1",

language = "English",

series = "Complex Adaptive Systems",

publisher = "MIT Press",

editor = "Carlos Gershenson and Tom Froese and Siqueiros, {Jesus M.} and Wendy Aguilar and Izqueirdo, {Eduardo J. } and Hiroki Sayama",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (Alife 2016)",

address = "United States",

}

Guckelsberger, C & Salge, C 2016, Does Empowerment Maximisation Allow for Enactive Artificial Agents? in C Gershenson, T Froese, JM Siqueiros, W Aguilar, EJ Izqueirdo & H Sayama (eds), Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (Alife 2016). Complex Adaptive Systems, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Artificial Life Conference 2016, Cancun, Mexico, 4/07/16.

Does Empowerment Maximisation Allow for Enactive Artificial Agents? / Guckelsberger, Christian; Salge, Christoph.
Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (Alife 2016). ed. / Carlos Gershenson; Tom Froese; Jesus M. Siqueiros; Wendy Aguilar; Eduardo J. Izqueirdo; Hiroki Sayama. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2016. (Complex Adaptive Systems).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution