Dear colleagues, On November 13, the Developing Minds global online lecture series is proud to host Tadahiro Taniguchi from Kyoto University, Japan, speaking on: "Developing Collective Minds: Symbol Emergence and Co-creative Learning via Collective Predictive Coding“. Thursday, November 13, 2025 3 am EST (Eastern Standard Time, US) 8 am UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) 9 am CET (Central European Time) 5 pm JST (Japan Standard Time) The zoom link/credentials are: https://uni-frankfurt.zoom-x.de/j/62848974907?pwd=wKdKlyBSVirfJqzrFfULhhOiuq... Meeting-ID: 628 4897 4907 Kenncode: 735273 Abstract: This talk introduces the Collective Predictive Coding (CPC) hypothesis, a computational theory for how collective minds develop. CPC extends the Free Energy Principle (FEP) to the societal level, positing that interacting agents (both human and artificial) collaboratively minimize their collective prediction error through interaction. We argue that this process, functioning as a form of decentralized Bayesian inference embodied in interaction games, is the engine for symbol emergence. It provides a mechanism for agents to integrate their partial and heterogeneous perceptual information, leading to a shared, co-created understanding that exceeds the capabilities of any single agent. The CPC framework provides a scientific foundation for "co-creative learning," a new paradigm for human-AI interaction where systems learn with humans, rather than merely from them. This contrasts with traditional AI alignment, which often assumes a unilateral transfer of knowledge. CPC enables a bilateral, organic alignment that emerges from continuous, mutual interaction. This bottom-up, co-creative process offers a compelling alternative to top-down alignment methods, paving the way for a future of human-AI symbiosis. It allows humans and AI to co-evolve, generate new knowledge together, and realize the development of true collective minds. Short Bio: Tadahiro Taniguchi is a Professor at the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University. He received his M.E. in 2003 and Ph.D. in Engineering in 2006, both from Kyoto University. He began his academic career at Ritsumeikan University, serving as an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor in the College of Information Science and Engineering before assuming his current position at Kyoto University in 2024. During his tenure at Ritsumeikan, he was also a Visiting Associate Professor at Imperial College London from September 2015 to September 2016. Concurrently, he serves as a Senior Technical Advisor at Panasonic Holdings Corporation, an Affiliate Professor at Ritsumeikan University, a Director of the Tomorrow Never Knows association, Representative Director of the Bibliobattle Association, Director of the AI Robot Association (AIRoA), a Technical Advisor for ABEJA, Inc., and the Chair of the IEEE Cognitive and Developmental Systems Technical Committee. His research interests include artificial intelligence, emergent systems, and cognitive and developmental robotics. He is a pioneer in the field of "Symbol Emergence in Robotics," a constructive approach to understanding the mechanisms of language acquisition and semantic understanding from the perspective of the symbol grounding problem. Dr. Taniguchi has received numerous awards, including the Academic Encouragement Award from the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), the Paper Award from the Institute of Systems, Control and Information Engineers (ISCIE), and the Advanced Robotics Best Survey Paper Award. The talk will be recorded and made available for later viewing. For more information on the talk series and recordings of previous events, please visit: https://sites.google.com/view/developing-minds-series/home Best regards, Jochen Triesch -- Prof. Dr. Jochen Triesch Johanna Quandt Chair for Theoretical Life Sciences Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies and Goethe University Frankfurt http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~triesch/ Tel: +49 (0)69 798-47531 Fax: +49 (0)69 798-47611