Mental-Model-In-The-Loop Simulator
Run candidate multi-step strategies inside an internal simulator of the environment before committing in the real world — broader than simulate-before-actuate (single action) by simulating multi-step strategies.
Problem
Per-action preview misses strategy-level interactions: step 2's safety depends on step 1's outcome, which the per-action check cannot see. A strategy that looks fine action-by-action can be disastrous in aggregate. Without a strategy simulator, the agent commits to multi-step strategies blind to their joint effect.
Solution
Maintain a simulator of the relevant environment slice — could be a learned world model, a deterministic state machine, a what-if engine. Before committing to a strategy, run it in the simulator and score the simulated outcome. Reject strategies that simulate to bad outcomes. Pair with simulate-before-actuate (single-action), dry-run-harness (whole-plan preview), world-model-as-tool, world-model-graph-memory.
When to use
- Multi-step strategies with material consequences.
- Simulator of sufficient fidelity is available.
- Latency budget allows simulation pass per strategy.
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