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When online sellers use AI learning algorithms to automatically compete on e-commerce platforms, there is concern that they will learn to coordinate on higher than competitive prices. However, this concern was primarily raised in…

General Economics · Economics 2025-11-03 Hangcheng Zhao , Ron Berman

The multi-armed bandit problem is a core framework for sequential decision-making under uncertainty, but classical algorithms often fail in environments with hidden, time-varying states that confound reward estimation and optimal action…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-19 Jikai Jin , Kenneth Hung , Sanath Kumar Krishnamurthy , Baoyi Shi , Congshan Zhang

We study the problem of online learning in competitive settings in the context of two-sided matching markets. In particular, one side of the market, the agents, must learn about their preferences over the other side, the firms, through…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2022-06-07 Chinmay Maheshwari , Eric Mazumdar , Shankar Sastry

A search engine usually outputs a list of $K$ web pages. The user examines this list, from the first web page to the last, and chooses the first attractive page. This model of user behavior is known as the cascade model. In this paper, we…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2015-05-19 Branislav Kveton , Csaba Szepesvari , Zheng Wen , Azin Ashkan

In repeated games, such as auctions, players rely on autonomous learning agents to choose their actions. We study settings in which players have their agents make monetary transfers to other agents during play at their own expense, in order…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-02-12 Yoav Kolumbus , Joe Halpern , Éva Tardos

Contextual multi-armed bandits provide powerful tools to solve the exploitation-exploration dilemma in decision making, with direct applications in the personalized recommendation. In fact, collaborative effects among users carry the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-02-24 Yikun Ban , Yunzhe Qi , Tianxin Wei , Jingrui He

Recent developments in digital platforms have highlighted the prevalence of open systems, where agents can arrive and depart over time. While bandit learning in open systems has recently received initial attention, existing work imposes…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-08 Mengfan Xu

Traditionally, when recommender systems are formalized as multi-armed bandits, the policy of the recommender system influences the rewards accrued, but not the length of interaction. However, in real-world systems, dissatisfied users may…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-19 Omer Ben-Porat , Lee Cohen , Liu Leqi , Zachary C. Lipton , Yishay Mansour

In many online decision processes, the optimizing agent is called to choose between large numbers of alternatives with many inherent similarities; in turn, these similarities imply closely correlated losses that may confound standard…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-06-22 Matthieu Martin , Panayotis Mertikopoulos , Thibaud Rahier , Houssam Zenati

We consider the problem of multiple users targeting the arms of a single multi-armed stochastic bandit. The motivation for this problem comes from cognitive radio networks, where selfish users need to coexist without any side communication…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2014-04-23 Orly Avner , Shie Mannor

Most recommender systems recommend a list of items. The user examines the list, from the first item to the last, and often chooses the first attractive item and does not examine the rest. This type of user behavior can be modeled by the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2016-07-01 Shi Zong , Hao Ni , Kenny Sung , Nan Rosemary Ke , Zheng Wen , Branislav Kveton

Exposure bias is a well-known issue in recommender systems where items and suppliers are not equally represented in the recommendation results. This bias becomes particularly problematic over time as a few items are repeatedly…

Information Retrieval · Computer Science 2024-08-09 Masoud Mansoury , Bamshad Mobasher , Herke van Hoof

Stochastic multi-armed bandits solve the Exploration-Exploitation dilemma and ultimately maximize the expected reward. Nonetheless, in many practical problems, maximizing the expected reward is not the most desirable objective. In this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2013-01-10 Amir Sani , Alessandro Lazaric , Rémi Munos

Analyzing interaction data provides an opportunity to learn about users, uncover their underlying goals, and create intelligent visualization systems. The first step for intelligent response in visualizations is to enable computers to infer…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2020-10-19 Shayan Monadjemi , Roman Garnett , Alvitta Ottley

An online labor platform faces an online learning problem in matching workers with jobs and using the performance on these jobs to create better future matches. This learning problem is complicated by the rise of complex tasks on these…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-10-16 Ramesh Johari , Vijay Kamble , Anilesh K. Krishnaswamy , Hannah Li

We develop a location analysis spatial model of firms' competition in multi-characteristics space, where consumers' opinions about the firms' products are distributed on multilayered networks. Firms do not compete on price but only on…

Physics and Society · Physics 2017-08-03 Antonios Garas , Athanasios Lapatinas

In science as elsewhere, attention is a limited resource and scientists compete with one another to produce the most exciting, novel and impactful results. We develop a game-theoretic model to explore how such competition influences the…

Physics and Society · Physics 2025-09-09 Kevin Gross , Carl T. Bergstrom

Conflicts of interest often arise between data sources and their users regarding how the users' information needs should be interpreted by the data source. For example, an online product search might be biased towards presenting certain…

Databases · Computer Science 2026-03-09 Nischal Aryal , Arash Termehchy , Marianne Winslett

Efficient learning in multi-armed bandit mechanisms such as pay-per-click (PPC) auctions typically involves three challenges: 1) inducing truthful bidding behavior (incentives), 2) using personalization in the users (context), and 3)…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-07-18 Yinglun Xu , Bhuvesh Kumar , Jacob Abernethy

Bandit algorithms are widely used in sequential decision problems to maximize the cumulative reward. One potential application is mobile health, where the goal is to promote the user's health through personalized interventions based on user…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2022-08-23 Gi-Soo Kim , Hyun-Joon Yang , Jane P. Kim