# Individual and Collective Autonomous Development

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.11223 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.11223/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 41 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Sep 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Learning to Communicate with Deep Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.06676/) (2016)
- [Emergent Tool Use From Multi-Agent Autocurricula](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.07528/) (2019)
- [Large-Scale Study of Curiosity-Driven Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.04355/) (2018)
- [Autocurricula and the Emergence of Innovation from Social Interaction: A Manifesto for Multi-Agent Intelligence Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.00742/) (2019)
- [What can I do here? A Theory of Affordances in Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.15085/) (2020)
- [Diverse Auto-Curriculum is Critical for Successful Real-World Multiagent Learning Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.07659/) (2021)
- [Learning Causal Models Online](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.07461/) (2020)
- [Low-Bandwidth Communication Emerges Naturally in Multi-Agent Learning Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.14890/) (2020)
- [Winning an Election: On Emergent Strategic Communication in Multi-Agent Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.06897/) (2019)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The increasing complexity and unpredictability of many ICT scenarios let us envision that future systems will have to dynamically learn how to act and adapt to face evolving situations with little or no a priori knowledge, both at the level of individual components and at the collective level. In other words, such systems should become able to autonomously develop models of themselves and of their environment. Autonomous development includes: learning models of own capabilities; learning how to act purposefully towards the achievement of specific goals; and learning how to act collectively, i.e., accounting for the presence of others. In this paper, we introduce the vision of autonomous development in ICT systems, by framing its key concepts and by illustrating suitable application domains. Then, we overview the many research areas that are contributing or can potentially contribute to the realization of the vision, and identify some key research challenges.