{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T21:03:55Z","timestamp":1769202235543,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,31]],"date-time":"2025-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1743379200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"VERSES"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\u201cIntrinsic motivation\u201d refers to the capacity for intelligent systems to be motivated endogenously, i.e., by features of agential architecture itself rather than by learned associations between action and reward. This paper views active inference, empowerment, and other formal accounts of intrinsic motivation as variations on the theme of constrained maximum entropy inference, providing a general perspective on intrinsic motivation complementary to existing frameworks. The connection between free energy and empowerment noted in previous literature is further explored, and it is argued that the maximum-occupancy approach in practice incorporates an implicit model-evidence constraint.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e27040372","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,1]],"date-time":"2025-04-01T08:21:41Z","timestamp":1743495701000},"page":"372","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Intrinsic Motivation as Constrained Entropy Maximization"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1957-797X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alex B.","family":"Kiefer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"VERSES, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA"},{"name":"Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Domenico, S.I.D., and Ryan, R.M. 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