Ryan Smith
Laureate Institute for Brain Research. University of Tulsa
Functionalist What matters is the organisation of the processing, not the material
Ryan Smith is a computational neuroscientist at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research and the University of Tulsa whose work translates predictive processing and active inference into testable models of interoception, emotional awareness, and psychiatric disorders. His papers formalize how deep generative models infer hidden visceral states from noisy bodily signals and how those inferences become accessible to higher-level conscious report and decision-making.
In October 2026, Smith co-authored “Two Routes to Interoceptive Prioritisation: Preference Reweighting and Likelihood Precision in Multi-Need Homeostatic Agents” (arXiv:2610.18617) with St John Grimbly, Jonathan Shock, Benjamin Rosman, and Mark Solms. Using the multi-need AffectWorld environment, the study separates drive-like urgency (dynamic preference reweighting over homeostatic deviations) from selective visceral attention (dynamic modulation of interoceptive likelihood precision) and demonstrates that an agent learning its own bodily model online requires both mechanisms in tandem to survive lethal multi-need trade-offs.
Smith’s work sits directly at the intersection of computational functionalism and affective neuroscience. By writing down explicit POMDP equations for interoceptive attention and homeostatic urgency, his research turns philosophical debates about whether artificial agents can have felt bodily stakes into concrete, falsifiable simulation experiments.
Known for. Computational psychiatry and active inference models of emotional awareness, interoceptive inference, hierarchical models of conscious access and affect
Coverage on this site
Related researchers
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Mark SolmsUniversity of Cape TownNeuropsychoanalysis, and the brainstem account of affective consciousness
- St John GrimblyDepartment of Computer Science, University of Cape TownAffectWorld multi-need active inference environment, two routes to interoceptive prioritisation (preference reweighting and likelihood precision)
- Benjamin RosmanSchool of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, University of the WitwatersrandReinforcement learning and decision-making in multi-need agents, skill composition, active inference homeostatic prioritisation
- Jonathan ShockDepartment of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape TownMathematical physics and computational neuroscience of active inference, multi-need homeostatic agency, neural dynamics
- Karl FristonUniversity College London. Chief Scientist, VERSES AIThe free energy principle and active inference
- Hedayat AbedijooACE Conscious Studio / IndependentACE.await (2026), the ACE decision framework (Agency, Connection, Exchange)
Ryan Smith is listed with the other functionalists and computationalists, who hold that what matters is the organisation of the processing, not the material. The theory family behind that position is set out in the index of consciousness theories. Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.