Multi-agent Simulation: A Key Function in Inference-time Intelligence

We are about to see a significant change in the role of simulation to evaluate real-time what-if scenarios in materializing machine intelligence. I believe that it can play an even more purposeful role if expanded to include agent-based simulation at inference time. This type of computation seeks to iteratively resolve problems based on inputs from multiple agents (humans or other AIs) which is characteristic of more real-world learning. As such, it has the potential to impart multiple "models of mind" during the machine learning process and advance the next generation of AI. To ground the discussion below, we need to start with a definition of simulation in the context of this discussion.