Our Work

Selected Publications

A curated selection of Institute-affiliated research. For the full list, see the Institute research page.

• "The Active Inference Institute and Active Inference Ecosystem" — Daniel Friedman et al. Overview of the Institute's structure, mission, and ecosystem. Read
• "Distributed Science — The Scientific Process as Multi-Scale Active Inference" — Balzan, Campbell, Friston, Ramstead, Friedman, Constant. Read
• "A Variational Synthesis of Evolutionary and Developmental Dynamics" — Friston, Friedman, Constant, Knight, Parr, Campbell. Entropy, 2023. Read
• "Generalized Notation Notation for Active Inference Models" — Smékal & Friedman. Read
• "A Single-Pheromone Model Accounts for Empirical Patterns of Ant Colony Foraging" — Saund & Friedman. Cognitive Systems Research, 2023. Read

• "Active Blockference — cadCAD with Active Inference for Cognitive Systems Modeling" — Smékal et al. IWAI 2022. Read
• "The Free Energy Principle & Active Inference: a Systematic Literature Analysis" — Knight, Cordes, Friedman. Read
• "An Active Inference Ontology for Decentralized Science" — From Situated Sensemaking to the Epistemic Commons. Read

• "Active InferAnts — The Basis for an Active Inference Framework for Ant Colony Behavior" — Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. Read
• "Thinking like a State: Active Inference and the Deep Roots of Complex Societies" — Bleu Knight. OSF Preprint
• 1st Applied Active Inference Symposium — Karl Friston Transcript Zenodo

• "Active Inference & Behaviour Engineering for Teams" — Vyatkin et al. Poster at IWAI 2020. Zenodo

Future Directions

As we look to 2026 and beyond, the Institute is expanding foundational work bridging theory with real-world deployment — from cognitive modelling and AI safety to robotics and complex networks.

• 6th Applied Active Inference Symposium — Planning underway. symposium.activeinference.institute
• IWAI 2026 — The 7th International Workshop on Active Inference, focusing on "Foundations" across computational theory, cognitive modelling, and empirical applications.
• Industry Partnerships — Actively seeking collaborators to translate foundational science into operational planning and decision-making platforms.