Agentic Information Theory:
Ergodicity and Intrinsic Semantics of Information Processes

James P. Crutchfield
Complexity Sciences Center
Physics Department
University of California at Davis
Davis, CA 95616

and

Alexandra M. Jurgens
INRIA
Bordeaux, France

ABSTRACT: We develop information theory for the temporal behavior of memoryful agents moving through complex— structured, stochastic—environments. We introduce information processes—stochastic processes produced by cognitive agents in real-time as they interact with and interpret incoming stimuli. We provide basic results on the ergodicity and semantics of the resulting time series of Shannon information measures that monitor an agent's adapting view of uncertainty and structural correlation in its environment.


James P. Crutchfield and Alexandra M. Jurgens, “Agentic Information Theory: Ergodicity and Intrinsic Semantics of Information Processes”, (2025).
doi:.
[pdf]
arXiv.org:2505.19275.