How Brains & Machines Master Probability

Brains and AI systems both face the challenge of reasoning under uncertainty with incomplete data. Variational inference is a mathematical tool used to create efficient models from limited clues. By using concepts like the evidence lower bound (ELBO) and latent variables, both natural and artificial systems can effectively manage high-dimensional data. Techniques such as important sampling and Jensen's inequality play crucial roles in this process, enabling more accurate and computationally feasible models.