Centaur: AI that thinks like us—and could help explain how we think

July 2, 2025

The GIST Centaur: AI that thinks like us—and could help explain how we think

Gaby Clark

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Robert Egan

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Researchers at Helmholtz Munich have developed an artificial intelligence model that can simulate human behavior with remarkable accuracy. The language model, called Centaur, was trained on more than ten million decisions from psychological experiments—and makes decisions in ways that closely resemble those of real people. This opens new avenues for understanding human cognition and improving psychological theories.

For decades, psychology has aspired to explain the full complexity of human thought. Yet traditional models could either offer a transparent explanation of how people think—or reliably predict how they behave. Achieving both has long seemed out of reach.

The team led by Dr. Marcel Binz and Dr. Eric Schulz, both researchers at the Institute for Human-Centered AI at Helmholtz Munich, has now developed a model that combines both. Centaur was trained using a specially curated dataset called Psych-101, which includes over ten million individual decisions from 160 behavioral experiments. The study is published in the journal Nature.

What makes Centaur unique is its ability to predict human behavior not only in familiar tasks, but also in entirely new situations it has never encountered before. It identifies common decision-making strategies, adapts flexibly to changing contexts—and even predicts reaction times with surprising precision.

"We've created a tool that allows us to predict human behavior in any situation described in natural language—like a virtual laboratory," says Binz, who is also the study's lead author.

Potential applications range from analyzing classic psychological experiments to simulating individual decision-making processes in clinical contexts—for example, in depression or anxiety disorders. The model opens up new perspectives in health research in particular—for example, by helping us understand how people with different psychological conditions make decisions. The dataset is set to be expanded to include demographic and psychological characteristics.

Centaur: Bridging theory and prediction

Centaur bridges two previously separate domains: interpretable theories and predictive power. It can reveal where classical models fall short—and provide insights into how they might be improved. This opens up new possibilities for research and real‑world applications, from medicine to environmental science and the social sciences.

"We're just getting started and already seeing enormous potential," says institute director Schulz. Ensuring that such systems remain transparent and controllable is key, Binz adds—for example, by using open, locally hosted models that safeguard full data sovereignty.

Next, the researchers aim to take a closer look inside Centaur: Which computational patterns correspond to specific decision‑making processes? Can they be used to infer how people process information—or how decision strategies differ between healthy individuals and those with mental health conditions?

The researchers are convinced: "These models have the potential to fundamentally deepen our understanding of human cognition—provided we use them responsibly." That this research is taking place at Helmholtz Munich rather than in the development departments of major tech companies is no coincidence.

"We combine AI research with psychological theory—and with a clear ethical commitment," says Binz. "In a public research environment, we have the freedom to pursue fundamental cognitive questions that are often not the focus in industry."

More information: Marcel Binz, A foundation model to predict and capture human cognition, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09215-4. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09215-4

Journal information: Nature Provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres Citation: Centaur: AI that thinks like us—and could help explain how we think (2025, July 2) retrieved 2 July 2025 from https://techxplore.com/news/2025-07-centaur-ai.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

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