Be.FM: The Open Foundation Model Built to Understand Human Behavior
Despite the massive success of foundation models in fields ranging from code generation to genomics, their potential for modeling and understanding human decision-making has remained largely unexplored.
A new paper introduces Be.FM, one of the first open foundation models specifically designed for human behavior modeling. Built upon open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) and fine-tuned on a diverse range of data, Be.FM aims to overcome the limitations of traditional, task-specific AI tools used in behavioral science.
The AI Advantage for Behavioral Science
Behavioral science, which includes disciplines like economics and psychology, is essential for understanding decision-making in policy, education, and business. Be.FM offers a comprehensive, generalizable approach where traditional AI falls short.
This model, developed by a team including authors affiliated with MobLab, has a broad range of core capabilities:
Predict and Simulate Behavior: It can predict and emulate human decision-making across diverse scenarios.
Infer Characteristics: It can infer motivations, characteristics, and personality traits of both individuals and entire populations from their behaviors.
Generate Insights: It can suggest contextual factors or experimental interventions that influence a change in human behavior.
Apply Knowledge: It can systematically represent and apply behavioral science knowledge in reasoning and problem-solving tasks.
Be.FM represents a crucial step toward a more comprehensive and scalable analysis of human behavior, bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI and foundational behavioral science research.