Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Everyone is excited about recursive *self* improvement (RSI) but human progress is social and driven by cumulative culture. Individuals stand on the shoulders of past giants. Our new paper tests whether LLM swarms benefit from an alternative RSI: recursive *social* improvement. 071
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Our newest work unifying game theoretic ideas about the evolution of cooperation with the emergence of computation itself. Self-replicating programs first emerge through random mutation and then spread by cooperating. 1205
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 06/08/2026New lab preprint! AI assistants are myopically helpful. Unlike caregivers that want to empower people and grow their long term autonomy, AI assistants interrupt independent thinking and jump right to the answer. 0183
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Just arrived in Rio for #CogSci2026! I'll be at the Cognitive Science of AI Alignment workshop on Wednesay afternoon to talk about "Machines That Care Like Us" 0112
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 05/06/2026Excited about our new work measuring multi-turn persuasion in AI-human interactions and how to simulate human persuadability! 070
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerJared Moore @jaredlcm.bsky.social · 05/06/2026LLMs can shift people's beliefs. But most persuasion studies only check beliefs before and after a conversation. We built PersuasionTrace to measure beliefs turn by turn, so we can study how belief updates actually unfold. 2125
Reposted by Max Kleiman-Weinercogscikid.bsky.social @cogscikid.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Task diversity is supposedly key to generalization in RL. But what does it do to continual RL, where agents face one new task distribution after another? We find that past a point, more diversity actually inhibits continual reinforcement learning 🧵 45114
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerKunal Jha @kjha02.bsky.social · 08/04/2026Really excited to have the opportunity to give a talk on this work @cogscisociety.bsky.social !!! last year was a blast can’t wait to go back to Rio in July 🇧🇷 HUGE thanks to my collaborators for the support @aydanhuang265.bsky.social @EricYe29011995 @natashajaques.bsky.social @maxkw.bsky.social 🙏 092
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 02/03/2026Our new short piece in TiCS on intuitive theories of truth: how people judge whether statements could be true, whether statements are true, and whether to assert them as true. A great collab with @keremoktar.bsky.social @ihandleyminer.bsky.social @kevinzollman.com @lianeleeyoung.bsky.social 0277
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerKunal Jha @kjha02.bsky.social · 10/02/2026Can't wait to present this work @iclr-conf.bsky.social this year!!! Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on the paper and learning more about peoples' research! Thanks again to my collaborators for all of their help on this project! 181
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerStella Li @stellali.bsky.social · 25/11/2025🤔💭What even is reasoning? It's time to answer the hard questions! We built the first unified taxonomy of 28 cognitive elements underlying reasoning Spoiler—LLMs commonly employ sequential reasoning, rarely self-awareness, and often fail to use correct reasoning structures🧠 2468
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerKunal Jha @kjha02.bsky.social · 03/10/2025Forget modeling every belief and goal! What if we represented people as following simple scripts instead (i.e "cross the crosswalk")? Our new paper shows AI which models others’ minds as Python code 💻 can quickly and accurately predict human behavior! shorturl.at/siUYI%F0%9F%... 33814
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 03/10/2025arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2510.01272arxiv.orgModeling Others' Minds as CodeAccurate prediction of human behavior is essential for robust and safe human-AI collaboration. However, existing approaches for modeling people are often data-hungry and brittle because they either ma... 030
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 03/10/2025New paper challenges how we think about Theory of Mind. What if we model others as executing simple behavioral scripts rather than reasoning about complex mental states? Our algorithm, ROTE (Representing Others' Trajectories as Executables), treats behavior prediction as program synthesis. 2142
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 03/10/2025Definitely, we should look closer at sample complexity for training but for things like webnav there are massive datasets so could be good fit. 010
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 02/10/2025In some sense, yes, in that you need diverse trajectories of the agent's behavior in different contexts, but you don't need to have access to those goals, or even the distribution, and the agent might be doing non-goal-directed behavior, such as exploration. 110
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 02/10/2025Great work led by @andyliu.bsky.social and collaborators: @kghate.bsky.social, @monadiab77.bsky.social, @daniel-fried.bsky.social, @atoosakz.bsky.social Preprint: www.arxiv.org/abs/2509.25369arxiv.orgGenerative Value Conflicts Reveal LLM PrioritiesPast work seeks to align large language model (LLM)-based assistants with a target set of values, but such assistants are frequently forced to make tradeoffs between values when deployed. In response ... 051
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 02/10/2025When values collide, what do LLMs choose? In our new paper, "Generative Value Conflicts Reveal LLM Priorities," we generate scenarios where values are traded off against each other. We find models prioritize "protective" values in multiple-choice, but shift toward "personal" values when interacting. 1100
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 02/10/2025Very cool! Thanks for sharing! Would be interesting to compare your exploration ideas on open ended tasks beyond little alchemy with EELMA 010
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 01/10/2025Work led by Jinyeop Song together with Jeff Gore. Check out the preprint here: arxiv.org/abs/2509.22504arxiv.orgEstimating the Empowerment of Language Model AgentsAs language model (LM) agents become more capable and gain broader access to real-world tools, there is a growing need for scalable evaluation frameworks of agentic capability. However, conventional b... 050
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 01/10/2025Excited by our new work estimating the empowerment of LLM-based agents in text and code. Empowerment is the causal influence an agent has over its environment and measures an agent's capabilities without requiring knowledge of its goals or intentions. 3172
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 06/08/2025Claire's new work showing that when an assistant aims to optimize another's empowerment, it can lead to others being disempowered (both as a side effect and as an intentional outcome)! 070
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerClaire Yang @claireyang.bsky.social · 06/08/2025Still catching up on my notes after my first #cogsci2025, but I'm so grateful for all the conversations and new friends and connections! I presented my poster "When Empowerment Disempowers" -- if we didn't get the chance to chat or you would like to chat more, please reach out! 0163
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 01/08/2025It’s forgivable =) We just do the best we can with what we have (i.e., resource rational) 🤣 020
Reposted by Max Kleiman-Weinersamuel mehr @mehr.nz · 31/07/2025lol this may be the most cogsci cogsci slide I've ever seen, from @maxkw.bsky.social "before I got married I had six theories about raising children, now I have six kids and no theories"......but here's another theory #cogsci2025 2689
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025Quantifying the cooperative advantage shows why humans, the most sophisticated cooperators, also have the most sophisticated machinery for understanding the minds of others. It also offers principles for building more cooperative AI systems. Check out the full paper! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...pnas.orgEvolving general cooperation with a Bayesian theory of mind | PNASTheories of the evolution of cooperation through reciprocity explain how unrelated self-interested individuals can accomplish more together than th... 280
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025Finally, when we tested it against memory-1 strategies (such as TFT and WSLS) in the iterated prisoner's dilemma, the Bayesian Reciprocator: expanded the range where cooperation is possible and dominated prior algorithms using the *same* model across simultaneous & sequential games. 160
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025Even in one-shot games with observability, the Bayesian Reciprocator learns from observing others' interactions and enables cooperation through indirect reciprocity 160
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025In dyadic repeated interactions in the Game Generator, the Bayesian Reciprocator quickly learns to distinguish cooperators from cheaters, remains robust to errors, and achieves high population payoffs through sustained cooperation. 260
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025Instead of just testing on repeated prisoners' dilemma, we created a "Game Generator" which creates infinite cooperation challenges where no two interactions are alike. Many classic games, like the prisoner’s dilemma or resource allocation games, are just special cases. 190
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025It uses theory of mind to infer the latent utility functions of others through Bayesian inference and an abstract utility calculus to work across ANY game. 150
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025We introduce the "Bayesian Reciprocator," an agent that cooperates with others proportional to its belief that others share its utility function. 170
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025Classic models of cooperation like tit-for-tat are simple but brittle. They only work in specific games, can't handle noise and stochasticity and don't understand others' intentions. But human cooperation is remarkably flexible and robust. How and why? 160
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025This project was first presented back in 2018 (!) and was born from a collaboration between Alejandro Vientos, Dave Rand @dgrand.bsky.social & Josh Tenenbaum @joshtenenbaum.bsky.social 170
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 22/07/2025Our new paper is out in PNAS: "Evolving general cooperation with a Bayesian theory of mind"! Humans are the ultimate cooperators. We coordinate on a scale and scope no other species (nor AI) can match. What makes this possible? 🧵 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...pnas.orgEvolving general cooperation with a Bayesian theory of mind | PNASTheories of the evolution of cooperation through reciprocity explain how unrelated self-interested individuals can accomplish more together than th... 29237
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerKartik Chandra @kartikchandra.bsky.social · 18/07/2025As always, CogSci has a fantastic lineup of workshops this year. An embarrassment of riches! Still deciding which to pick? If you are interested in building computational models of social cognition, I hope you consider joining @maxkw.bsky.social, @dae.bsky.social, and me for a crash course on memo! 1226
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerCognitive Science Society @cogscisociety.bsky.social · 16/07/2025#Workshop at #CogSci2025 Building computational models of social cognition in memo 🗓️ Wednesday, July 30 📍 Pacifica I - 8:30-10:00 🗣️ Kartik Chandra, Sean Dae Houlihan, and Max Kleiman-Weiner 🧑💻 underline.io/events/489/s... 1122
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerKempner Institute at Harvard University @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social · 15/07/2025'Cross-environment Cooperation Enables Zero-shot Multi-agent Coordination' @kjha02.bsky.social · Wilka Carvalho · Yancheng Liang · Simon Du · @maxkw.bsky.social · @natashajaques.bsky.social doi.org/10.48550/arX... (3/20) 162
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 29/06/2025Settling in for my flight and apparently A.I. DOOM is now a movie genre between Harry Potter and Classics. Nothing better than an existential crisis with pretzels and a ginger ale. 060
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerSofia Forss @sofiaforss.bsky.social · 28/06/2025Thanks to the Diverse Intelligence Community for all these inspiring days & impressions in Sydney 🙏🏻 @chriskrupenye.bsky.social @katelaskowski.bsky.social @divintelligence.bsky.social @maxkw.bsky.social 0163
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 09/06/2025And a more detailed thread from the lead authors Tianyi (Alex) Qiu and Zhonghao He, who both did an incredible job with this work: x.com/Tianyi_Alex_... 030
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 09/06/2025Check out the paper here: arxiv.org/abs/2506.06166arxiv.orgThe Lock-in Hypothesis: Stagnation by AlgorithmThe training and deployment of large language models (LLMs) create a feedback loop with human users: models learn human beliefs from data, reinforce these beliefs with generated content, reabsorb the ... 150
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 09/06/2025LLMs learn beliefs and values from human data, influence our opinions, and then reabsorb those influenced beliefs, feeding them back to users again and again. We call this the "Lock-In Hypothesis" and develop theory, simulations, and empirics to test it in our latest ICML paper! 1306
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 28/04/2025Excited to speak about some new work on Bayesian Cooperation at this workshop! Join us virtually 093
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerTobias Gerstenberg @tobigerstenberg.bsky.social · 25/04/2025Now out in JPSP ‼️ "Inference from social evaluation" with Zach Davis, Kelsey Allen, @maxkw.bsky.social, and @julianje.bsky.social 📃 (paper): psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-... 📜 (preprint): osf.io/preprints/ps... 25513
Reposted by Max Kleiman-WeinerKunal Jha @kjha02.bsky.social · 19/04/2025Our new paper (first one of my PhD!) on cooperative AI reveals a surprising insight: Environment Diversity > Partner Diversity. Agents trained in self-play across many environments learn cooperative norms that transfer to humans on novel tasks. shorturl.at/fqsNN%F0%9F%... 1267
Max Kleiman-Weiner @maxkw.bsky.social · 19/04/2025Awesome new work from my lab led by @kjha02.bsky.social scaling cooperative AI! True cooperation requires adapting to both unfamiliar partners and novel environments. Agents trained with CEC get us closer to agents that can act with general cooperative principles rather than memorized strategies. 030