Ecosystem+Magi+Magi Full+MAGUS Framework

Overview

MAGUS (Modular Adaptive Goal and Utility System) is a modular framework for goal-driven decision-making in AGI systems, implemented in MeTTa on Hyperon. It combines the forward-thinking vision of classic motivational frameworks (Psi, MicroPsi, OpenPsi/MetaMo) with practical utility-AI patterns from commercial game development (Sims 4, Guild Wars 2), striking a balance between future-proofing for AGI adaptability and maintaining a straightforward human-in-the-loop interface.

MAGUS is designed for use within the PRIMUS cognitive architecture on Hyperon, supporting integration with ECAN, DAS, and the MeTTa language.

The Overgoal

The Overgoal is MAGUS's supreme evaluative mechanism. It continuously assesses all system goals using two criteria:

• Measurability: Goals must have clearly measurable satisfaction metrics
• Correlation: Goal fulfillment must positively correlate with satisfaction of other system goals

Goals failing these criteria are demoted; metrics that strongly correlate with cross-goal satisfaction can be promoted to goals in their own right. This creates a self-refining goal hierarchy where the system is motivated to evolve its own objective structure — analogous to human self-actualization, the Overgoal can never be completely satisfied, ensuring continuous growth.

Goal Architecture

MAGUS organizes goals in a hierarchical structure:

• Primary goals: Core objectives with measurable satisfaction metrics
• Subgoals: Decomposed steps toward primary goals
• Metagoals: Strategic value adjustments for coherence, exploration, and safety
• Anti-goals: Constraint enforcement with penalties, preventing undesirable behaviors
• Considerations and discouragements: Soft contextual factors influencing scoring

The framework uses Bach's 6-modulator framework (PAD emotion model + attentional modulators) to integrate affective state into decision-making, and a Scoring v2 pipeline that combines all components into unified action selection.

Milestones

Milestone	Focus	Status
M2	Goal fitness metrics — measurability framework (confidence × clarity), MIC correlations	Complete (19/19 tests)
M3	Metagoals and integration — metagoals, anti-goals, Bach modulators, Overgoal, Scoring v2	Complete (24/24 tests)
M4	Ethical scenarios and research — scenario validation, ablation framework, AIRIS/HERMES integration patterns, reproducibility archive	Complete (5/5 tests)

Design Heritage

MAGUS builds on Oliver Watkins's prior work on the Sophia robot's GHOST system and his patent "Data-driven goal modeling reevaluation for robots or virtual characters." The framework addresses a fundamental challenge identified by Asimov (rigid rule systems fail under pressure) and Goodhart (measures become poor targets once optimized for) by allowing goals to evolve through the Overgoal mechanism while maintaining alignment via anti-goals and human oversight.