arXiv:2606. 19587v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: We propose a scalable method for training prediction (machine learning) models in the predict-then-optimize paradigm, where model outputs serve as coefficients for a subsequent linear optimization task.
arXiv:2507.06529v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Bayesian optimization (BO) is a powerful paradigm for optimizing expensive black-box functions. Traditional BO methods typically rely on separate h...
arXiv:2601. 07094v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Bayesian optimization (BO) iteratively fits a Gaussian process (GP) surrogate to accumulated evaluations and selects new queries via an acquisition function.
arXiv:2610.10186v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Bayesian optimization (BO) is widely used as a standard approach for expensive black-box optimization. However, BO algorithms often involve parameters...
DisCoMBO introduces the Distributional Conformance Score (DisCo), a bounded metric that blends the flexibility of Probabilistic Circuits with formal uncertainty quantification for Sequential Model-Based Optimization. DisCo measures model surprise in a [0,1] range, retaining linear-time inference while enabling accurate assessment of external knowledge conformance. The resulting DisCoMBO framework is proven to be a zero-regret algorithm and shows strong performance on benchmarks in AutoML, material optimization, and wind park optimization.
arXiv:2510. 07750v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Robust optimization safeguards decisions against uncertainty by optimizing against worst-case scenarios, yet their effectiveness hinges on a prespecified robustness level that is often chosen ad hoc, leading to either insufficient protection or overly conservative and costly solutions.
GRAPE is a two‑stage Bayesian optimization framework that first refines the local gradient posterior using a closed‑form acquisition function and then selects update directions by maximizing expected decrease conditioned on descent. The authors prove that the refinement stage monotonically reduces local uncertainty and that the progress‑aware direction converges to true steepest descent as the posterior sharpens. Empirical results show GRAPE achieves a 5.4× speedup on black‑box adversarial attacks and reduces final average regret by 3.8 log‑units on large language model prompt‑optimization tasks.
arXiv:2606. 01081v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Decision-focused learning (DFL) trains predictive models by optimizing downstream decision quality rather than standalone prediction accuracy.
arXiv:2606. 07841v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Black-box variational inference (BBVI) is a methodology for posterior approximation that relies on stochastic optimization.
arXiv:2609.36472v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Sequential Model-Based Optimization (SMBO) traditionally relies on Bayesian or ensembling surrogates for uncertainty quantification. While historically...
The paper compares two strategies for contextual decision making: predict‑then‑optimize (PtO), which learns the conditional expected objective, and generate‑then‑optimize (GtO), which learns conditional uncertainty and optimizes over generated scenarios. It analyzes how the choice of learning target influences statistical accuracy and optimization tractability, showing that smoothness can compensate for GtO’s higher dimensionality. The study also discusses tradeoffs in convexity preservation, scenario‑wise convexity, and model flexibility, supported by synthetic experiments and a real case study.
arXiv:2307. 05213v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Many real-world optimization problems contain parameters that are unknown before deployment time, either due to stochasticity or to lack of information (e.