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Related papers: Optimistic Agents are Asymptotically Optimal

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The main purpose of this paper is to provide an asymptotically optimal test. The proposed statistic is of Neyman-Pearson-type when the parameters are estimated with a particular kind of estimators. It is shown that the proposed estimators…

Applications · Statistics 2011-10-04 Tewfik Lounis

Empowerment is an information-theoretic method that can be used to intrinsically motivate learning agents. It attempts to maximize an agent's control over the environment by encouraging visiting states with a large number of reachable next…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-01-09 Felix Leibfried , Sergio Pascual-Diaz , Jordi Grau-Moya

Deep reinforcement learning agents have achieved state-of-the-art results by directly maximising cumulative reward. However, environments contain a much wider variety of possible training signals. In this paper, we introduce an agent that…

When deploying artificial agents in real-world environments where they interact with humans, it is crucial that their behavior is aligned with the values, social norms or other requirements of that environment. However, many environments…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-05-05 Mattijs Baert , Pietro Mazzaglia , Sam Leroux , Pieter Simoens

We consider the \mnk{classical} problem of a controller activating (or sampling) sequentially from a finite number of $N \geq 2$ populations, specified by unknown distributions. Over some time horizon, at each time $n = 1, 2, \ldots$, the…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2015-12-18 Wesley Cowan , Michael N. Katehakis

Providing Reinforcement Learning agents with expert advice can dramatically improve various aspects of learning. Prior work has developed teaching protocols that enable agents to learn efficiently in complex environments; many of these…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-01-17 David Abel , John Salvatier , Andreas Stuhlmüller , Owain Evans

Reinforcement learning is commonly concerned with problems of maximizing accumulated rewards in Markov decision processes. Oftentimes, a certain goal state or a subset of the state space attain maximal reward. In such a case, the…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-08-23 Pavel Osinenko , Grigory Yaremenko , Georgiy Malaniya , Anton Bolychev , Alexander Gepperth

We present a new algorithm for general reinforcement learning where the true environment is known to belong to a finite class of N arbitrary models. The algorithm is shown to be near-optimal for all but O(N log^2 N) time-steps with high…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2013-08-23 Tor Lattimore , Marcus Hutter , Peter Sunehag

The pursuit of general intelligence has traditionally centered on external objectives: an agent's control over its environments or mastery of specific tasks. This external focus, however, can produce specialized agents that lack…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-31 Hanqi Zhou , Fryderyk Mantiuk , David G. Nagy , Charley M. Wu

Traditional reinforcement learning methods optimize agents without considering safety, potentially resulting in unintended consequences. In this paper, we propose an optimal actor-free policy that optimizes a risk-sensitive criterion based…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-07-04 Ruoqi Zhang , Jens Sjölund

Reinforcement learning for embodied agents is a challenging problem. The accumulated reward to be optimized is often a very rugged function, and gradient methods are impaired by many local optimizers. We demonstrate, in an experimental…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2016-06-01 Guido Montufar , Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi , Nihat Ay

We develop an asymptotic theory of adversarial estimators ('A-estimators'). They generalize maximum-likelihood-type estimators ('M-estimators') as their average objective is maximized by some parameters and minimized by others. This class…

Econometrics · Economics 2022-06-20 Jonas Metzger

We develop a novel framework of bounded rationality under cognitive frictions that studies learning over optimal behavior through both deliberative reasoning and accumulated experiences. Using both types of information, agents engage in…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-03-28 Cosmin Ilut , Rosen Valchev

Assessing the systemic effects of uncertainty that arises from agents' partial observation of the true states of the world is critical for understanding a wide range of scenarios. Yet, previous modeling work on agent learning and…

Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems · Physics 2022-04-15 Wolfram Barfuss , Richard P. Mann

Algorithmic Information Theory has inspired intractable constructions of general intelligence (AGI), and undiscovered tractable approximations are likely feasible. Reinforcement Learning (RL), the dominant paradigm by which an agent might…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2021-05-14 Michael K. Cohen , Badri Vellambi , Marcus Hutter

Assistive agents should make humans' lives easier. Classically, such assistance is studied through the lens of inverse reinforcement learning, where an assistive agent (e.g., a chatbot, a robot) infers a human's intention and then selects…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-01-17 Vivek Myers , Evan Ellis , Sergey Levine , Benjamin Eysenbach , Anca Dragan

Model selection criteria are one of the most important tools in statistics. Proofs showing a model selection criterion is asymptotically optimal are tailored to the type of model (linear regression, quantile regression, penalized…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2025-10-17 Amaze Lusompa

In reinforcement learning, an agent interacts sequentially with an environment to maximize a reward, receiving only partial, probabilistic feedback. This creates a fundamental exploration-exploitation trade-off: the agent must explore to…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-03-27 Josep Lumbreras , Ruo Cheng Huang , Yanglin Hu , Marco Fanizza , Mile Gu

Distributional reinforcement learning algorithms have attempted to utilize estimated uncertainty for exploration, such as optimism in the face of uncertainty. However, using the estimated variance for optimistic exploration may cause biased…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-12-06 Taehyun Cho , Seungyub Han , Heesoo Lee , Kyungjae Lee , Jungwoo Lee

The increasing adoption of Reinforcement Learning in safety-critical systems domains such as autonomous vehicles, health, and aviation raises the need for ensuring their safety. Existing safety mechanisms such as adversarial training,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-11-11 Paulina Stevia Nouwou Mindom , Amin Nikanjam , Foutse Khomh , John Mullins