Active inference has no random or stochastic aspects; everything changes to minimize variational free energy in accord with Hamilton's principle of least action.

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• In brief, active inference proposes that agents achieve this by optimising two complementary objective functions, a variational free energy and an expected free energy.quote0.864
  Concise statement of the core hypothesis from Section 2.
• Active inference dispenses with the Bellman optimality principle and replaces it with a (variational) principle of least action.claim0.857
  §2, expected free energy section.
• Any system that exists will appear to minimize free energy and therefore engage in active inference.claim0.855
  The reworked argument that free energy minimization is a corollary of existence, not a prerequisite.
• Active inference offers an attractive natural adaptation mechanism for non-stationary environments due to its Bayesian model updating properties.claim0.854
  §3, after non-stationary results.
• Active inference postulates that agents achieve survival by optimising two complementary objective functions, a variational free energy and an expected free energy.claim0.840
  Core claim of active inference stated in Section 2.
• Any system that exists will appear to minimize free energy and therefore engage in active inference. Furthermore, this apparently inferential or mindful behaviour is (almost) inevitable.concept0.839
  Friston's key assertion resolving the tautology: existence implies free energy minimization, making inference inevitable.
• Active inference describes the dynamics of systems that persist at non-equilibrium steady-state and that can be statistically segregated from their environment via a Markov blanket.claim0.832
  Sets the theoretical grounding in Section 2.
• Biological agents use a process theory of active inference where neuronal dynamics correspond to variational free energy minimisation for perception and expected free energy minimisation for action.hypothesis0.829
  The core process theory hypothesis set up in the paper.