arXiv:2609.13564v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: We study KL-regularized contextual bandits under both reward and preference feedback. We show that greedy sampling can achieve logarithmic regret witho...
By Zichen Wang, Haoyang Hong, Huazheng Wang
arXiv:2311. 07565v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We introduce exploration via linear loss perturbations (EVILL), a randomised exploration method for structured stochastic bandit problems that works by solving for the minimiser of a linearly perturbed regularised negative log-likelihood function.
By David Janz, Shuai Liu, Alex Ayoub, Csaba Szepesv\'ari
Exhaustively evaluating every candidate LLM configuration on every benchmark item to identify a high-performing one is costly. We formulate configuration selection as a cost-aware Bayesian bandit prob...
arXiv:2602. 17976v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: In active sequential testing, also termed pure exploration, a learner is tasked with the goal to adaptively acquire information so as to identify an unknown ground-truth hypothesis with as few queries as possible.
By Alessio Russo, Yin-Ching Lee, Ryan Welch, Aldo Pacchiano
arXiv:2608. 01069v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Bandit algorithms generate data for downstream inference, but adaptive sampling biases post-bandit sample means.
By Lisu Wang, Yilun Chen, Jiaqi Lu
arXiv:2609.25645v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Exhaustively evaluating every candidate LLM configuration on every benchmark item to identify a high-performing one is costly. We formulate configurati...
By Qian Xie, Yueli He, Nairen Cao
arXiv:2608.01069v2 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: Bandit algorithms generate data for downstream inference, but adaptive sampling biases post-bandit sample means. We analyze this bias for stable in...
By Lisu Wang, Yilun Chen, Jiaqi Lu
arXiv:2606. 00913v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Multi-arm bandit algorithms are increasingly used in online platforms, clinical trials, and social science experiments, but valid statistical inference on their performance remains an open challenge.
By Samya Praharaj, Chih-Yu Chang, Koulik Khamaru, Kelly W. Zhang
arXiv:2307. 03587v4 Announce Type: replace Abstract: In non-stationary linear contextual bandits, existing efficient algorithms typically rely on the Weighted Regularized Least-Squares (WRLS) estimator.
By Nicklas Werge, Yi-Shan Wu, Abdullah Akg\"ul, Melih Kandemir
The paper investigates preference-based bandits where a learner selects pairs of arms and receives binary preference feedback modeled by Bradley–Terry. It introduces the locally sensitive eluder dimension, a new complexity measure for logistic preference feedback, and proposes the GINOP algorithm that uses log-loss confidence sets to balance optimism and exploration. The authors prove a first-order regret bound showing that learning with preference feedback can be as statistically efficient as learning from direct rewards, and they validate their theory with empirical experiments.
By Ahmed Ben Yahmed (CREST, ENSAE Paris, FAIRPLAY), Marc Abeille (FAIRPLAY), Cl\'ement Calauz\`enes (FAIRPLAY)
The paper introduces Latent Order Bandits (LOB), a new bandit framework that relaxes the strict assumptions of traditional latent bandits by only requiring a partial order of action preferences within each latent state. LOB allows instances sharing the same state to have different reward distributions as long as the action ranking remains consistent, making it suitable for scenarios like user groups on streaming services who agree on genre preferences but rate differently. The authors present an upper‑confidence bound algorithm for both total and partial latent orders, provide regret bounds, and propose a posterior‑sampling variant that empirically outperforms full‑prior latent bandits when reward scales vary across instances sharing the same latent state.
By Emil Carlsson, Newton Mwai, Fredrik D. Johansson
arXiv:2502. 08870v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We provide an approach for the analysis of randomised exploration algorithms like Thompson sampling that does not rely on forced optimism or posterior inflation.
By Marc Abeille, David Janz, Ciara Pike-Burke