arXiv Machine Learning

Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain: Adaptive Experiment with Post-Commitment Reward Shift

arXiv:2607. 23432v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Decision-makers in learning environments face a dilemma when their short-term optimal actions may not favor their long-term benefits the most.

arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 14

Satisficing Regret Minimization in Bandits: Constant Rate and Light-Tailed Distribution

The paper introduces SELECT, an algorithmic framework for satisficing regret minimization in bandit problems, achieving constant expected satisficing regret when a satisficing arm exists. A variant, SELECT‑LITE, further ensures a light‑tailed satisficing regret distribution while maintaining constant expected regret in the realizable case and sub‑linear standard regret otherwise. Experiments on synthetic data and a real‑world dynamic pricing scenario demonstrate the practical effectiveness of both algorithms.

By Qing Feng, Tianyi Ma, Ruihao Zhu
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 28

Safety by Design: Realized-Cost Constraints for Contextual Bandits with Continuous Actions

The paper introduces a new approach to safety in contextual bandits with continuous actions, focusing on high‑probability constraints on the realized cost rather than expected cost. It presents the High‑Probability Constrained UCB algorithm, which balances reward exploration with conservative safety estimation, and provides theoretical regret guarantees for linear models and extensions to general function classes. Experiments demonstrate that this realized‑cost safety framework significantly reduces safety violations compared to expected‑cost constrained methods.

By Spyros Dragazis, Aldo Pacchiano
Hugging Face Trending Papers
Aug 27

Safety by Design: Realized-Cost Constraints for Contextual Bandits with Continuous Actions

The paper introduces a new approach to safety in contextual bandits with continuous actions by enforcing high‑probability constraints on the realized cost rather than on its expectation. It proposes the High‑Probability Constrained UCB algorithm, which balances optimistic reward exploration with pessimistic safety estimation. The authors provide theoretical regret guarantees for linear models and extend the analysis to general function classes, demonstrating experimentally that realized‑cost constraints significantly reduce safety violations compared to expected‑cost baselines.

arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 30

Early Verdicts, Better Budgets: Sequential Adaptive Rollout Allocation for Compute-Efficient RLVR

arXiv:2607. 26253v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (RLVR) is bottlenecked by rollout generation, yet many sampled prompts produce saturated groups (all responses correct or all incorrect) whose zero reward variance yields no policy-gradient signal.

By Pixel Nomand, Elena Voss, Marcus Hale, Sofia Reyes