arXiv Machine Learning

Characterizing Nash Equilibria in Zero-Sum Games: A Physics-Inspired, Parallelizable Approach with a Linear Number of Gradient Queries

arXiv:2507. 11366v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We study online optimization methods for zero-sum games, a fundamental problem in adversarial learning in machine learning, economics, and many other domains.

arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 2

NashDreamer: Model-Based Reinforcement Learning for Zero-Sum Imperfect-Information Games

NashDreamer is a new model-based reinforcement learning framework designed for two-player zero-sum imperfect-information games. It introduces a centralized Multi-Agent Recurrent State-Space Model that separates environment dynamics from player strategy effects, enabling the use of any policy gradient algorithm while preserving convergence guarantees to Nash equilibria. Experiments on four benchmark games show that NashDreamer achieves significantly better sample efficiency than model-free baselines early in training, and the authors analyze its optimization landscape, noting a potential vulnerability to posterior collapse in stochastic settings.

By Tom\'a\v{s} Hole\v{c}ek, Viliam Lis\'y
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 18

Online Convex Optimization with Dueling Feedback

arXiv:2608. 15050v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: We study online convex optimization with dueling (pairwise comparison) feedback, where the learner observes only a binary preference between two queried points.

By Yiyang Lu, Hareshkumar Jadav, Mohammad Pedramfar, Ranveer Singh, Vaneet Aggarwal
arXiv AI
Jun 24

EMAgnet: Parameter-Space EMA Regularization for Policy Gradient Self-Play in Large Games

arXiv:2606. 23995v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Recent work has established that regularized policy gradient methods such as PPO, when used in self-play, can match or exceed specialized game-theoretic algorithms for solving two-player zero-sum imperfect-information games.

By Tristan Maidment, JB Lanier, Chase McDonald, Nathan Tsang, Eugene Vinitsky, Roy Fox, Albert Wang, Wesley N. Kerr