Atari 10k challenge benchmark with bayesian models / free energy principle active inference

“VERSES’ agent, powered by Genius, trained for 2 hours on 90% less data than Atari 100k (thus Atari 10k) on several games

Genius Agent matched or exceeded performance of top ranking models that were trained on 10x the data and many times more compute

Genius Agent exceeded human-level performance and achieved perfect play (scoring all 20 points) at Pong multiple times

Genius Agent outperformed a leading model, IRIS with 96% smaller model size”

“This alternative path to applying neuroscience-based methodologies and biologically plausible techniques to tackle Atari began in 2022, when Professor Friston and our colleagues from Cortical Labs demonstrated how lab-grown brain cells, called “Dishbrain”, learned to play Pong demonstrating that neurons apply the Free Energy Principle and operate using Active Inference. A 2023 paper published in Nature confirmed the quantitative predictions of the Free Energy Principle using in vitro networks of rat cortical neurons that perform causal inference. In early 2024 we applied these same underlying Active Inference mechanics demonstrated with Dishbrain to playing Pong purely in software.”

Small update to active inference for three games tested only using 10k frames and limited computing power, often the company leverages macbook M1 to demonstrate efficiency of bayesian model approach to active inference.