Volume 3 of 4 · PDF and notebooks
Planning, Research Lineages, and Foundation Models
Use imagined futures for planning, then compare influential research systems and the capabilities claimed for foundation and world-action models.
18 chapters · 701 pages · Perpetual updates
What you will learn
- Choose planning and policy-learning methods for a learned model.
- Understand the distinct assumptions behind PILCO, Dreamer, MuZero, and TD-MPC.
- Assess action conditioning and control claims in foundation models.
Before you start
A working understanding of reinforcement learning and learned dynamics. Volumes 1 and 2 provide the shared foundations.
Own Volume 3
$29 once. The PDF and companion notebook ZIP are yours to download, with every future update to this volume included.
Prefer all four volumes? Library access is $79. Owned volumes receive full upgrade credit; three distinct volumes unlock the library automatically. No combined PDF is delivered.
Included chapters
All chapters remain free to read online.
Part VII: Planning and Agency
Part VIII: Decision-Centric Research Lineages
Version history
Kept current, not frozen in time
Library access includes every future volume and update. When a volume changes, its updated PDF appears in My books at no extra cost.
Current release
Edition 2026.10.0
First edition: 72 chapters across four standalone volume PDFs, with executable companion notebooks and perpetual updates.
Author and edition details
About the author and this edition
Michael Brenndoerfer
Michael has spent more than a decade working across software engineering, data, AI, and business. He writes to understand difficult ideas more deeply and to share what he learns in a clear, practical way.
- Edition
- First edition
- Published
- Last reviewed