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188: World Models

July 9, 2026 · 1 h 36 min

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Intro topic: Running

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Book of the Show
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Tool of the ShowTopic: World Models

  • Making decisions with AI
    • Action-Value (called a Q model): What is the long-term value of making a decision at a position
    • Policy: What action should I take (must be a distribution)
    • Value (called a V model): What is the value of a position (depends on policy)
    • Advantage/Disadvantage: difference in value given two policies
    • When advantage is +, do that more.
  • Model-Free
    • Look at the current situation and suggest an action
    • Run that action in the real world and measure the effect
    • Use that measurement to suggest better actions next time
  • Model-Based
    • Observe rollouts (sequences of situations) and learn the dynamics
    • Choose an action, use your dynamics model to measure the consequence
    • Potentially do MPC (try many actions and choose the best)
  • World Models
    • Observe many many rollouts and learn a full forward model (how to create the input in the future)
    • Train a policy & value inside the world model
    • Deploy the policy and fine-tune based on the real world

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