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Related papers: On the Prior Sensitivity of Thompson Sampling

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In this paper, we propose a Thompson Sampling algorithm for \emph{unimodal} bandits, where the expected reward is unimodal over the partially ordered arms. To exploit the unimodal structure better, at each step, instead of exploration from…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-06-17 Long Yang , Zhao Li , Zehong Hu , Shasha Ruan , Shijian Li , Gang Pan , Hongyang Chen

Restless bandit problems assume time-varying reward distributions of the arms, which adds flexibility to the model but makes the analysis more challenging. We study learning algorithms over the unknown reward distributions and prove a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-10-15 Young Hun Jung , Marc Abeille , Ambuj Tewari

In this paper, we study the application of the Thompson sampling (TS) methodology to the stochastic combinatorial multi-armed bandit (CMAB) framework. We first analyze the standard TS algorithm for the general CMAB model when the outcome…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-06-22 Siwei Wang , Wei Chen

Using bandit algorithms to conduct adaptive randomised experiments can minimise regret, but it poses major challenges for statistical inference (e.g., biased estimators, inflated type-I error and reduced power). Recent attempts to address…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-11-02 Nina Deliu , Joseph J. Williams , Sofia S. Villar

Thompson Sampling, one of the oldest heuristics for solving multi-armed bandits, has recently been shown to demonstrate state-of-the-art performance. The empirical success has led to great interests in theoretical understanding of this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2013-10-29 Lihong Li

We introduce a novel anytime Batched Thompson sampling policy for multi-armed bandits where the agent observes the rewards of her actions and adjusts her policy only at the end of a small number of batches. We show that this policy…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-10-04 Cem Kalkanli , Ayfer Ozgur

We consider the stochastic linear contextual bandit problem with high-dimensional features. We analyze the Thompson sampling algorithm using special classes of sparsity-inducing priors (e.g., spike-and-slab) to model the unknown parameter…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2023-01-31 Sunrit Chakraborty , Saptarshi Roy , Ambuj Tewari

Thompson Sampling provides an efficient technique to introduce prior knowledge in the multi-armed bandit problem, along with providing remarkable empirical performance. In this paper, we revisit the Thompson Sampling algorithm under rewards…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-12-09 Abhimanyu Dubey , Alex Pentland

Thompson sampling is one of the most popular learning algorithms for online sequential decision-making problems and has rich real-world applications. However, current Thompson sampling algorithms are limited by the assumption that the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-10-28 Yinglun Xu , Zhiwei Wang , Gagandeep Singh

Motivated by the pressing need for efficient optimization in online recommender systems, we revisit the cascading bandit model proposed by Kveton et al. (2015). While Thompson sampling (TS) algorithms have been shown to be empirically…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-05-18 Zixin Zhong , Wang Chi Cheung , Vincent Y. F. Tan

We study the logistic bandit, in which rewards are binary with success probability $\exp(\beta a^\top \theta) / (1 + \exp(\beta a^\top \theta))$ and actions $a$ and coefficients $\theta$ are within the $d$-dimensional unit ball. While prior…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-05-14 Shi Dong , Tengyu Ma , Benjamin Van Roy

This paper develops a viable notion of learning for sampling-based algorithms that applies in broader settings than previously considered. More specifically, we model a discounted infinite-horizon MDPs with Borel state and action spaces,…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2026-04-09 Daniel Adelman , Cagla Keceli , Alba V. Olivares-Nadal

We present a novel extension of Thompson Sampling for stochastic sequential decision problems with graph feedback, even when the graph structure itself is unknown and/or changing. We provide theoretical guarantees on the Bayesian regret of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-01-17 Aristide C. Y. Tossou , Christos Dimitrakakis , Devdatt Dubhashi

We consider Thompson Sampling (TS) for linear combinatorial semi-bandits and subgaussian rewards. We propose the first known TS whose finite-time regret does not scale exponentially with the dimension of the problem. We further show the…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2024-10-10 Raymond Zhang , Richard Combes

Thompson sampling (TS) has been known for its outstanding empirical performance supported by theoretical guarantees across various reward models in the classical stochastic multi-armed bandit problems. Nonetheless, its optimality is often…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-12-14 Jongyeong Lee , Chao-Kai Chiang , Masashi Sugiyama

This work tackles the complexities of multi-player scenarios in \emph{unknown games}, where the primary challenge lies in navigating the uncertainty of the environment through bandit feedback alongside strategic decision-making. We…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-27 Yingru Li , Liangqi Liu , Wenqiang Pu , Hao Liang , Zhi-Quan Luo

Thompson sampling is one of the earliest randomized algorithms for multi-armed bandits (MAB). In this paper, we extend the Thompson sampling to Budgeted MAB, where there is random cost for pulling an arm and the total cost is constrained by…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2015-05-04 Yingce Xia , Haifang Li , Tao Qin , Nenghai Yu , Tie-Yan Liu

Gaussian process (GP) bandits provide a powerful framework for performing blackbox optimization of unknown functions. The characteristics of the unknown function depend heavily on the assumed GP prior. Most work in the literature assume…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-13 Jack Sandberg , Morteza Haghir Chehreghani

Thompson sampling has been shown to be an effective policy across a variety of online learning tasks. Many works have analyzed the finite time performance of Thompson sampling, and proved that it achieves a sub-linear regret under a broad…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-11-10 Cem Kalkanli , Ayfer Ozgur

We investigate properties of Thompson Sampling in the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem with delayed feedback. In a setting with i.i.d delays, we establish to our knowledge the first regret bounds for Thompson Sampling with arbitrary…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-05-24 Han Wu , Stefan Wager