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We study sequential decision-making in batched nonparametric contextual bandits, where actions are selected over a finite horizon divided into a small number of batches. Motivated by constraints in domains such as medicine and marketing --…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-08-04 Sakshi Arya

We consider the problem of online learning in misspecified linear stochastic multi-armed bandit problems. Regret guarantees for state-of-the-art linear bandit algorithms such as Optimism in the Face of Uncertainty Linear bandit (OFUL) hold…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-04-25 Avishek Ghosh , Sayak Ray Chowdhury , Aditya Gopalan

Contextual bandit learning is a reinforcement learning problem where the learner repeatedly receives a set of features (context), takes an action and receives a reward based on the action and context. We consider this problem under a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2012-03-05 Alekh Agarwal , Miroslav Dudík , Satyen Kale , John Langford , Robert E. Schapire

We introduce Conformal Bandits, a novel framework integrating Conformal Prediction (CP) into bandit problems, a classic paradigm for sequential decision-making under uncertainty. Traditional regret-minimisation bandit strategies like…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-12-11 Simone Cuonzo , Nina Deliu

Motivated by economic applications such as recommender systems, we study the behavior of stochastic bandits algorithms under \emph{strategic behavior} conducted by rational actors, i.e., the arms. Each arm is a \emph{self-interested}…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-11-16 Zhe Feng , David C. Parkes , Haifeng Xu

Large language models (LLMs) are typically governed by post-training alignment (e.g., RLHF or DPO), which yields a largely static policy during deployment and inference. However, real-world safety is a full-lifecycle problem: static…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-18 Zeyu Zhang , Xiangxiang Dai , Ziyi Han , Xutong Liu , John C. S. Lui

In many real-world sequential decision-making problems, an action does not immediately reflect on the feedback and spreads its effects over a long time frame. For instance, in online advertising, investing in a platform produces an…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-05-31 Marco Mussi , Alberto Maria Metelli , Marcello Restelli

A stochastic combinatorial semi-bandit is an online learning problem where at each step a learning agent chooses a subset of ground items subject to constraints, and then observes stochastic weights of these items and receives their sum as…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-06-08 Branislav Kveton , Zheng Wen , Azin Ashkan , Csaba Szepesvari

A central problem in sequential decision making is to develop algorithms that are practical and computationally efficient, yet support the use of flexible, general-purpose models. Focusing on the contextual bandit problem, recent progress…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-07-14 Yinglun Zhu , Dylan J. Foster , John Langford , Paul Mineiro

Contextual bandit algorithms have many applicants in a variety of scenarios. In order to develop trustworthy contextual bandit systems, understanding the impacts of various adversarial attacks on contextual bandit algorithms is essential.…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-12-13 Guanlin Liu , Lifeng Lai

Contextual bandit algorithms are useful in personalized online decision-making. However, many applications such as personalized medicine and online advertising require the utilization of individual-specific information for effective…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-06-08 Yuxuan Han , Zhipeng Liang , Yang Wang , Jiheng Zhang

Recently, bandit optimization has received significant attention in real-world safety-critical systems that involve repeated interactions with humans. While there exist various algorithms with performance guarantees in the literature,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-11-13 Amirhossein Afsharrad , Ahmadreza Moradipari , Sanjay Lall

We study a general class of contextual bandits, where each context-action pair is associated with a raw feature vector, but the reward generating function is unknown. We propose a novel learning algorithm that transforms the raw feature…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-12-04 Pan Xu , Zheng Wen , Handong Zhao , Quanquan Gu

We study contextual bandits with ancillary constraints on resources, which are common in real-world applications such as choosing ads or dynamic pricing of items. We design the first algorithm for solving these problems that handles…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2015-08-03 Ashwinkumar Badanidiyuru , John Langford , Aleksandrs Slivkins

Model selection in supervised learning provides costless guarantees as if the model that best balances bias and variance was known a priori. We study the feasibility of similar guarantees for cumulative regret minimization in the stochastic…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-10-25 Sanath Kumar Krishnamurthy , Adrienne Margaret Propp , Susan Athey

In this paper we propose and explore the k-Nearest Neighbour UCB algorithm for multi-armed bandits with covariates. We focus on a setting where the covariates are supported on a metric space of low intrinsic dimension, such as a manifold…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-03-02 Henry WJ Reeve , Joe Mellor , Gavin Brown

We introduce the problem of model selection for contextual bandits, where a learner must adapt to the complexity of the optimal policy while balancing exploration and exploitation. Our main result is a new model selection guarantee for…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-11-15 Dylan J. Foster , Akshay Krishnamurthy , Haipeng Luo

This paper investigates the problem of non-stationary linear bandits, where the unknown regression parameter is evolving over time. Existing studies develop various algorithms and show that they enjoy an…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-12-23 Peng Zhao , Lijun Zhang , Yuan Jiang , Zhi-Hua Zhou

We consider the contextual combinatorial bandit setting where in each round, the learning agent, e.g., a recommender system, selects a subset of "arms," e.g., products, and observes rewards for both the individual base arms, which are a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-04-22 Baran Atalar , Carlee Joe-Wong

Contextual bandit algorithms are at the core of many applications, including recommender systems, clinical trials, and optimal portfolio selection. One of the most popular problems studied in the contextual bandit literature is to maximize…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-10-24 Siddhant Chaudhary , Abhishek Sinha