By minimising variational free energy, agents perform approximate Bayesian inference.

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• Agents perceive by minimizing variational free energy to ensure model consistency with past observations and act by minimizing expected free energy to make future sensations consistent with preferences.claim0.870
  Formalization of perception-action cycle integrating inference and decision-making.
• Any system minimizing free energy will appear to engage in implicit Bayesian inference of hidden external causes.hypothesis0.860
  Predicts that internal states encode posterior beliefs about external world through gradient descent on free energy.
• In brief, active inference proposes that agents achieve this by optimising two complementary objective functions, a variational free energy and an expected free energy.quote0.851
  Concise statement of the core hypothesis from Section 2.
• Any system that exists will appear to minimize free energy and therefore engage in active inference.claim0.839
  The reworked argument that free energy minimization is a corollary of existence, not a prerequisite.
• 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.hypothesis0.833
  The core process theory hypothesis set up in the paper.
• Active inference postulates that agents achieve survival by optimising two complementary objective functions, a variational free energy and an expected free energy.claim0.830
  Core claim of active inference stated in Section 2.
• Active inference has no random or stochastic aspects; everything changes to minimize variational free energy in accord with Hamilton's principle of least action.claim0.826
  Ontological claim about the deterministic nature of active inference agents in these simulations
• 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.concept0.816
  Friston's key assertion resolving the tautology: existence implies free energy minimization, making inference inevitable.