English

Scenario theory for multi-criteria data-driven decision making

Machine Learning 2026-04-02 v1 Machine Learning Systems and Control Systems and Control Optimization and Control

Abstract

The scenario approach provides a powerful data-driven framework for designing solutions under uncertainty with rigorous probabilistic robustness guarantees. Existing theory, however, primarily addresses assessing robustness with respect to a single appropriateness criterion for the solution based on a dataset, whereas many practical applications - including multi-agent decision problems - require the simultaneous consideration of multiple criteria and the assessment of their robustness based on multiple datasets, one per criterion. This paper develops a general scenario theory for multi-criteria data-driven decision making. A central innovation lies in the collective treatment of the risks associated with violations of individual criteria, which yields substantially more accurate robustness certificates than those derived from a naive application of standard results. In turn, this approach enables a sharper quantification of the robustness level with which all criteria are simultaneously satisfied. The proposed framework applies broadly to multi-criteria data-driven decision problems, providing a principled, scalable, and theoretically grounded methodology for design under uncertainty.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.00553,
  title  = {Scenario theory for multi-criteria data-driven decision making},
  author = {Simone Garatti and Lucrezia Manieri and Alessandro Falsone and Algo Carè and Marco C. Campi and Maria Prandini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.00553},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:47:44.586Z