Goal-Directedness is in the Eye of the Beholder

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2508.13247v1
• Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2025 11:04:18 GMT
• Title: Goal-Directedness is in the Eye of the Beholder
• Authors: Nina Rajcic, Anders Søgaard,
• Abstract summary: Probing for goal-directed behavior comes in two flavors: Behavioral and mechanistic.<n>We identify technical and conceptual problems that arise from formalizing goals in agent systems.<n>We outline new directions for modeling goal-directedness as an emergent property of dynamic, multi-agent systems.
• Score: 48.937781898861815
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Our ability to predict the behavior of complex agents turns on the attribution of goals. Probing for goal-directed behavior comes in two flavors: Behavioral and mechanistic. The former proposes that goal-directedness can be estimated through behavioral observation, whereas the latter attempts to probe for goals in internal model states. We work through the assumptions behind both approaches, identifying technical and conceptual problems that arise from formalizing goals in agent systems. We arrive at the perhaps surprising position that goal-directedness cannot be measured objectively. We outline new directions for modeling goal-directedness as an emergent property of dynamic, multi-agent systems.

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