arXiv Machine Learning

DCM Bandits: Multiplayer Information Asymmetric Cascading Bandits for Multiple Clicks

arXiv:2608. 11873v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: In this work, we extend the Dependent Click Model (DCM) Bandits to a multiplayer information-asymmetric setting, where multiple agents interact with a shared ranked list and may observe multiple clicks per session, introducing new challenges for selection strategies.

arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 19

Latent Order Bandits

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
Hugging Face Trending Papers
Jun 22

Leveraging Similarities in Multi-Armed Bandits

In many online learning and bandit problems, the actions we consider possess inherent similarities--for instance because they share latent traits, tags, or hierarchical structure. We study online learning with a similarity-structured action set, encoded by a rooted tree whose leaves are the actions and whose levels quantify how closely two actions are related.

Hugging Face Trending Papers
Jul 15

Optimal and Efficient Contextual Combinatorial Semi-bandits with General Function Approximation

We study the contextual combinatorial semi-bandit (CCSB) problem with general reward function approximation. At each round, the learner observes a context, selects a combinatorial action consisting of a subset of basic arms, and receives the reward of each selected arm; the goal is to maximize the cumulative reward over time.

arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 10

Bootstrap-Conditioned Action Selection with Tabular Foundation Models

arXiv:2608. 06559v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Contextual bandits offer a natural framework for sample-efficient personalization, but practical deployment remains difficult under sparse, biased interaction data, unreliable uncertainty estimates, and severe cold starts.

By Devansh Gupta, Shiv Tavker, Dmitry Efimov, Suchitra Sathyanarayana, Gitanjali Bhutani, Boris N. Oreshkin
arXiv AI
3d ago

On the Complexity of Preference-Based Bandits

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)