Training Agents Inside of Scalable World Models
On the map: World models → Latent dynamics models and model-based RL
Abstract (arXiv)
World models learn general knowledge from videos and simulate experience for training behaviors in imagination, offering a path towards intelligent agents. However, previous world models have been unable to accurately predict object interactions in complex environments. We introduce Dreamer 4, a scalable agent that learns to solve control tasks by reinforcement learning inside of a fast and accurate world model. In the complex video game Minecraft, the world model accurately predicts object interactions and game mechanics, outperforming previous world models by a large margin. The world model achieves real-time interactive inference on a single GPU through a shortcut forcing objective and an efficient transformer architecture. Moreover, the world model learns general action conditioning from only a small amount of data, allowing it to extract the majority of its knowledge from diverse unlabeled videos. We propose the challenge of obtaining diamonds in Minecraft from only offline data, aligning with practical applications such as robotics where learning from environment interaction can be unsafe and slow. This task requires choosing sequences of over 20,000 mouse and keyboard actions from raw pixels. By learning behaviors in imagination, Dreamer 4 is the first agent to obtain diamonds in Minecraft purely from offline data, without environment interaction. Our work provides a scalable recipe for imagination training, marking a step towards intelligent agents.
Key facts. Cited by 122 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Latent dynamics models and model-based RL, one of 11 directions in World models. Builds on 69 of its 82 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 29 Sep 2025.
Builds on
69 of 82 references.
Closest ancestors · 9
Same direction, newest first
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- 2023Transformer-based World Models Are Happy With 100k Interactions13 Mar
- 2022Transformers are Sample-Efficient World Models1 Sep
- 2022DayDreamer: World Models for Physical Robot Learning28 Jun
- 2020Mastering Atari with Discrete World Models5 Oct
- 2019Dream to Control: Learning Behaviors by Latent Imagination3 Dec
- 2018World Models27 Mar
Other references · 60
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50 most cited of 60 All 60 (JSON)
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 16; 2026: 106.
122 papers.
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- 2026DreamDojo: A Generalist Robot World Model from Large-Scale Human Videoscited by 117
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- 2025From Word to World: Can Large Language Models be Implicit Text-based World Models?cited by 40
- 2026RISE: Self-Improving Robot Policy with Compositional World Modelcited by 39
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- 2026Flow-JEPA: Flow Matching for Robust Latent Dynamics in JEPA World Models29 Aug 2026
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- 2026Marionette: Predicting World States, Rendering Geometry, Painting Appearance14 Aug 2026
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- 2026Artificial Empathy: Towards a Framework for Unsupervised Agency Detection and Policy Reconstruction24 Aug 2026
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- 2026SUNTA: Hierarchical Video Prediction with Surprise-based Chunking2 Jul 2026
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