Hadi Vafaii
@hadivafaii.bsky.social
Postdoc at UC Berkeley, Redwood Center | 🧠🤖 | 🎹 | 🎾 | https://mysterioustune.com/
Additional links:
📝 Meeting summary: sensorimotorai.github.io/2025/novembe...
📅 Future meetings: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
📝 Meeting summary: sensorimotorai.github.io/2025/novembe...
📅 Future meetings: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
RL Debates 4: Adam “I literally measured value in the brain” Lowet
In our 4th RL Debates presentation, Adam presented broad topics on RL and the brain, including his distributional RL paper.
sensorimotorai.github.io
November 10, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Additional links:
📝 Meeting summary: sensorimotorai.github.io/2025/novembe...
📅 Future meetings: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
📝 Meeting summary: sensorimotorai.github.io/2025/novembe...
📅 Future meetings: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
📅 Next meeting: November 6, 9:00 AM PT
Where Adam Lowet will present his paper on distributional RL in brain: nature.com/articles/s41...
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
Where Adam Lowet will present his paper on distributional RL in brain: nature.com/articles/s41...
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
An opponent striatal circuit for distributional reinforcement learning - Nature
D1- and D2-expressing striatal neurons encode separate parts of a learned reward distribution, paralleling modern approaches in machine learning.
nature.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:52 PM
📅 Next meeting: November 6, 9:00 AM PT
Where Adam Lowet will present his paper on distributional RL in brain: nature.com/articles/s41...
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
Where Adam Lowet will present his paper on distributional RL in brain: nature.com/articles/s41...
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
📜 Read the summary post: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
@cortical-canonical.bsky.social @thousandbrains.org
@cortical-canonical.bsky.social @thousandbrains.org
Schedule
Monthly journal club and RL Debate Series
sensorimotorai.github.io
October 23, 2025 at 9:52 PM
📜 Read the summary post: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
@cortical-canonical.bsky.social @thousandbrains.org
@cortical-canonical.bsky.social @thousandbrains.org
Next Thursday (Oct 23) Niels Leadholm from @thousandbrains.org will present.
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
Schedule
Monthly journal club and RL Debate Series
sensorimotorai.github.io
October 18, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Next Thursday (Oct 23) Niels Leadholm from @thousandbrains.org will present.
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
- See the full schedule here: sensorimotorai.github.io/schedule/
- Join our Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🧠🤖🧠📈
Also, fun fact: Fritz's paper (frontiersin.org/journals/neu...) talks about world modeling in 2013, way before it was cool.
You can hear at 49:01 (youtube.com/watch?v=rlF-...), he's describing an agent that runs an "internal simulation" of the world to decide its next action.
You can hear at 49:01 (youtube.com/watch?v=rlF-...), he's describing an agent that runs an "internal simulation" of the world to decide its next action.
Frontiers | Learning and exploration in action-perception loops
Discovering the structure underlying observed data is a recurring problem in machine learning with important applications in neuroscience. It is also a prima...
frontiersin.org
October 18, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Also, fun fact: Fritz's paper (frontiersin.org/journals/neu...) talks about world modeling in 2013, way before it was cool.
You can hear at 49:01 (youtube.com/watch?v=rlF-...), he's describing an agent that runs an "internal simulation" of the world to decide its next action.
You can hear at 49:01 (youtube.com/watch?v=rlF-...), he's describing an agent that runs an "internal simulation" of the world to decide its next action.
Can I also join? I still haven't written a book, but definitely planning to. I've started with blog posts, where I break down difficult technical concepts and make the accessible:
- World Models, Adaptation, and Surprise: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
- Perception as Inference: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
- World Models, Adaptation, and Surprise: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
- Perception as Inference: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
Every living system must adapt, or die.
In my first blog post, I show how this fundamental principle can be mathematized:
✅ Brains adapt, and adaptation is about KL divergence minimization.
Let's unpack the main insights 🧵[1/n]
Link: mysterioustune.com/2025/01/13/w...
🧠🤖🧠📈 #AI
In my first blog post, I show how this fundamental principle can be mathematized:
✅ Brains adapt, and adaptation is about KL divergence minimization.
Let's unpack the main insights 🧵[1/n]
Link: mysterioustune.com/2025/01/13/w...
🧠🤖🧠📈 #AI
October 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Can I also join? I still haven't written a book, but definitely planning to. I've started with blog posts, where I break down difficult technical concepts and make the accessible:
- World Models, Adaptation, and Surprise: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
- Perception as Inference: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
- World Models, Adaptation, and Surprise: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
- Perception as Inference: bsky.app/profile/hadi...
Join us on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
More info on our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
🧠🤖🧠📈
More info on our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
🧠🤖🧠📈
Join Sensorimotor AI on Slack
Slack is a new way to communicate with your team. It’s faster, better organized, and more secure than email.
join.slack.com
October 2, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Join us on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
More info on our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
🧠🤖🧠📈
More info on our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
🧠🤖🧠📈
Reposted by Hadi Vafaii
Hi Sid, you can join our Slack, where we share Zoom link (and other info): join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
Join Sensorimotor AI on Slack
Slack is a new way to communicate with your team. It’s faster, better organized, and more secure than email.
join.slack.com
September 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Hi Sid, you can join our Slack, where we share Zoom link (and other info): join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
Join 170+ interdisciplinary researchers from around the world who are pursuing a deeper, first-principles understanding of AI and active learning 🧠🤖🧠📈
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🌍 Our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
See you on Slack!
🧵[5/5]
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🌍 Our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
See you on Slack!
🧵[5/5]
Join Sensorimotor AI on Slack
Slack is a new way to communicate with your team. It’s faster, better organized, and more secure than email.
join.slack.com
September 17, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Join 170+ interdisciplinary researchers from around the world who are pursuing a deeper, first-principles understanding of AI and active learning 🧠🤖🧠📈
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🌍 Our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
See you on Slack!
🧵[5/5]
💬 Join the conversation on Slack: join.slack.com/t/sensorimot...
🌍 Our website: sensorimotorai.github.io
See you on Slack!
🧵[5/5]
Not all 'active' learning is 'reinforcement' learning.
➡️ This suggests we need to upgrade—or even replace—RL with a more general theory of active learning that's not solely reward-based
✅Which is why we are launching the RL Debates
More info: sensorimotorai.github.io/debates/
🧵[4/5]
🧠🤖🧠📈
➡️ This suggests we need to upgrade—or even replace—RL with a more general theory of active learning that's not solely reward-based
✅Which is why we are launching the RL Debates
More info: sensorimotorai.github.io/debates/
🧵[4/5]
🧠🤖🧠📈
September 17, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Not all 'active' learning is 'reinforcement' learning.
➡️ This suggests we need to upgrade—or even replace—RL with a more general theory of active learning that's not solely reward-based
✅Which is why we are launching the RL Debates
More info: sensorimotorai.github.io/debates/
🧵[4/5]
🧠🤖🧠📈
➡️ This suggests we need to upgrade—or even replace—RL with a more general theory of active learning that's not solely reward-based
✅Which is why we are launching the RL Debates
More info: sensorimotorai.github.io/debates/
🧵[4/5]
🧠🤖🧠📈
For decades, reinforcement learning (RL) has been synonymous with "active learning".
This figure from Sutton & Barto's classic textbook summarizes the standard view👇
🤔 But what if the premise of an 'external, scalar reward' is a simplification we need to move past?
🧵[3/5]
This figure from Sutton & Barto's classic textbook summarizes the standard view👇
🤔 But what if the premise of an 'external, scalar reward' is a simplification we need to move past?
🧵[3/5]
September 17, 2025 at 4:32 PM
For decades, reinforcement learning (RL) has been synonymous with "active learning".
This figure from Sutton & Barto's classic textbook summarizes the standard view👇
🤔 But what if the premise of an 'external, scalar reward' is a simplification we need to move past?
🧵[3/5]
This figure from Sutton & Barto's classic textbook summarizes the standard view👇
🤔 But what if the premise of an 'external, scalar reward' is a simplification we need to move past?
🧵[3/5]