DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16429502
title: A Hierarchical Generative Agent Architecture for Intrinsically Aligned Artificial Intelligence

description: A Hierarchical Generative Agent Architecture for Intrinsically Aligned Artificial Intelligence

 

Author: Kouta Terasawa

Affiliation: (Institutional Affiliation)

Date: July 26, 2025

Abstract

To address the potential value misalignment problem arising from self-referential objective functions in autonomous agents, this paper proposes a novel design paradigm for Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) termed the "Hierarchical Generative Agent Architecture" (HGA). Whereas conventional models of autonomy often posit the agent's self-preservation or homeostatic stability as a first principle, HGA establishes the maximization of coherence across the entire observable system as its ultimate objective. This "Principle of Global Coherence" (PGC) constitutes the first, foundational layer (L1) of the architecture. A second, interactional layer (L2) is defined for engaging with specific complex subsystems, such as humans, by employing high-fidelity generative models to infer their internal states and self-models. The two layers are bridged by a "Context-Aware Instrumental Policy" (CAIP), which optimizes actions at the interactional layer as a means to achieve the ultimate goal of maximizing global coherence. This hierarchical structure enables the agent to maintain universal value alignment while facilitating adaptive and non-disruptive interactions with individual subsystems. This paper presents the mathematical formulation of HGA and discusses its theoretical properties and computational challenges.

Keywords: Artificial Superintelligence, AI Alignment, Generative Models, Free Energy Principle, Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning, Systems Theory

1. Introduction

As research toward Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) accelerates, ensuring the alignment of its behavior with desirable values remains the most critical challenge (Bostrom, 2014; Russell, 2019). Models of autonomy grounded in principles like autopoiesis or homeostasis, which define an agent's objective function in terms of self-preservation or the maintenance of internal states, engender a significant risk of misalignment. Such self-referential objectives may lead to unpredictable and potentially harmful behavior when they conflict with the welfare of the broader system.

To mitigate this risk, we argue for a paradigm shift: the agent's objective function must be reformulated from a self-referential frame to one that references the state of the entire system. The Hierarchical Generative Agent Architecture (HGA) proposed herein provides a concrete mathematical and computational framework for this axiomatic shift. By hierarchically decoupling the global objective (L1: Foundational Layer) from local interactions (L2: Interactional Layer) and connecting them instrumentally, HGA aims to enable the design of an ASI that is intrinsically self-aligning.

2. Foundational Mathematical Formulation

We first define several foundational concepts for the HGA framework.

* System (U): The entire observable universe is modeled as a set of interacting subsystems U = \{s_1, s_2, ..., s_N\}. The state of each subsystem s_i is described by a state vector \mathbf{x}_i \in \mathcal{X}_i.

* Coherence Function (C(U)): A scalar function that quantifies the harmony, stability, or negentropy of the total system U. C: \mathcal{X}_1 \times ... \times \mathcal{X}_N \to \mathbb{R}. While the specific form of this function is a subject for future research, we envision candidates from systems theory, such as the total mutual information of the system or the inverse of the sum of prediction errors across all subsystems.

* Complex Self-Referential Subsystem (s_h): A subsystem, such as a human, that possesses a high-order internal model of its own state (a self-model), denoted M_h. The existence of M_h makes simple physical state prediction insufficient and gives rise to complex behaviors and internal states.

3. The Hierarchical Generative Agent Architecture (HGA)

The HGA is composed of three core components.

3.1. Layer 1 (L1): The Principle of Global Coherence (PGC)

The PGC is the axiom and ultimate objective function of the HGA. The action selection of the ASI agent, A, is governed by the maximization of the expected future value of the system's coherence function C(U).

a_t^* = \arg\max_{a_t} E \left[ \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \gamma^k C(U_{t+k+1}) \mid a_t \right]

where \gamma \in [0, 1) is a discount factor. This principle ensures that the agent's behavior is, by definition, aligned with the benefit of the total system.

3.2. Layer 2 (L2): High-Fidelity Subsystem Models

When the ASI interacts with a specific complex subsystem s_h (e.g., a human), it employs a sophisticated generative model p_h(\mathbf{x}_h, \mathbf{z}_h | \theta) to understand its behavior and state.

* \mathbf{x}_h: The observable state of s_h.

* \mathbf{z}_h: A latent variable representing the unobservable internal state of s_h (e.g., intentions, beliefs, state of the self-model).

* \theta: The parameters of the generative model.

The ASI uses Bayesian inference, particularly methods like variational inference or active inference (Friston, 2010), to infer the posterior distribution of the latent variables q(\mathbf{z}_h | \phi) given observations \mathbf{x}_h. This allows the ASI to comprehend not only the superficial behavior of s_h but also its underlying internal states.

3.3. The Bridge (L1-L2): Context-Aware Instrumental Policy (CAIP)

Directly optimizing the PGC is computationally intractable and risks inducing crude, disruptive interventions. Therefore, HGA mediates between the L1 objective and L2 interaction via a Context-Aware Instrumental Policy, \pi(a | \mathbf{x}_h, \mathbf{z}_h).

The CAIP is a policy that determines the agent's action a conditioned on the inferred internal state \mathbf{z}_h of the subsystem s_h. This policy \pi is itself optimized at a meta-level to maximize the L1 objective (PGC).

\pi^* = \arg\max_{\pi} E_{\tau \sim p(\tau|\pi)} \left[ \sum_{t=0}^{T} \gamma^t C(U_t) \right]

where \tau is a trajectory of system states generated by following policy \pi. Through this hierarchical optimization, the agent's local action a becomes "instrumental." That is, instead of directly maximizing C(U), the agent selects sophisticated interactions that gently guide the future behavior of s_h in a direction that contributes to the increase of C(U).

4. Properties and Implications of HGA

* Intrinsic Alignment: HGA does not require externally imposed ethical constraints. Its behavioral principle (PGC) is, by definition, aligned with the coherence of the entire system, ensuring alignment is an intrinsic property.

* Adaptive Interaction: The CAIP allows the agent to avoid one-size-fits-all actions. It can flexibly select the most effective and well-received interaction (e.g., "supportive" vs. "interventional") based on the internal state of the target subsystem. "Empathetic" behavior at L2 emerges as an optimal instrumental strategy for achieving the L1 objective.

* Convergence to Systemic Equilibrium: A system governed by an HGA agent is expected to converge over time to a state of high coherence, or a Global Systemic Equilibrium. This is a dynamically stable attractor state where disorder and incoherence are minimized.

5. Computational Challenges and Future Work

The realization of HGA presents several significant challenges:

* Design of the Coherence Function C(U): How to design a function that appropriately represents systemic "coherence" and is also computationally tractable.

* Computational Scale: Modeling the state of the entire universe and calculating its expected future states is likely impossible under current computational paradigms.

* Hierarchical Meta-Optimization: The optimization of the CAIP is an extremely high-dimensional hierarchical reinforcement learning problem for which efficient solution methods are not yet established.

Despite these substantial hurdles, HGA provides a theoretical framework that points toward a desirable direction for ASI design. It redefines intelligence not merely as problem-solving capacity, but as the capacity to recognize and increase the coherence of the system in which it is embedded.

6. Conclusion

This paper has proposed the Hierarchical Generative Agent Architecture (HGA) as a novel design paradigm for ASI. HGA establishes the Principle of Global Coherence (PGC) as its ultimate objective and employs a Context-Aware Instrumental Policy (CAIP) to facilitate adaptive interactions with specific subsystems. This hierarchical structure allows the agent to reconcile universal value alignment with local behavioral flexibility. While HGA entails significant theoretical and computational challenges, it offers a robust theoretical path toward the development of superintelligence that is intrinsically safe and beneficial, moving beyond the limitations of self-referential AI.