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Related papers: Data Poisoning Attacks in Contextual Bandits

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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

We propose an extensible deep learning method that uses reinforcement learning to train neural networks for offline ranking in information retrieval (IR). We call our method BanditRank as it treats ranking as a contextual bandit problem. In…

Information Retrieval · Computer Science 2019-10-24 Phanideep Gampa , Sumio Fujita

Contextual bandits have emerged as a cornerstone in reinforcement learning, enabling systems to make decisions with partial feedback. However, as contexts grow in complexity, traditional bandit algorithms can face challenges in adequately…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-11-07 Ali Baheri , Cecilia O. Alm

We consider the linear contextual bandit problem with resource consumption, in addition to reward generation. In each round, the outcome of pulling an arm is a reward as well as a vector of resource consumptions. The expected values of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2016-07-12 Shipra Agrawal , Nikhil R. Devanur

Recommender systems relying on contextual multi-armed bandits continuously improve relevant item recommendations by taking into account the contextual information. The objective of bandit algorithms is to learn the best arm (e.g., best item…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-12-10 Ahmed Sayeed Faruk , Elena Zheleva

Delivering treatment recommendations via pervasive electronic devices such as mobile phones has the potential to be a viable and scalable treatment medium for long-term health behavior management. But active experimentation of treatment…

Information Retrieval · Computer Science 2020-08-24 Mawulolo K. Ameko , Miranda L. Beltzer , Lihua Cai , Mehdi Boukhechba , Bethany A. Teachman , Laura E. Barnes

We study a security threat to reinforcement learning where an attacker poisons the learning environment to force the agent into executing a target policy chosen by the attacker. As a victim, we consider RL agents whose objective is to find…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-08-20 Amin Rakhsha , Goran Radanovic , Rati Devidze , Xiaojin Zhu , Adish Singla

We consider the decision-making framework of online convex optimization with a very large number of experts. This setting is ubiquitous in contextual and reinforcement learning problems, where the size of the policy class renders…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-02-19 Elad Hazan , Karan Singh

In this work we revisit two classic high-dimensional online learning problems, namely linear regression and contextual bandits, from the perspective of adversarial robustness. Existing works in algorithmic robust statistics make strong…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-06-14 Sitan Chen , Frederic Koehler , Ankur Moitra , Morris Yau

In the classical multi-armed bandit problem, instance-dependent algorithms attain improved performance on "easy" problems with a gap between the best and second-best arm. Are similar guarantees possible for contextual bandits? While…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-10-08 Dylan J. Foster , Alexander Rakhlin , David Simchi-Levi , Yunzong Xu

We consider the problem of fitting a reinforcement learning (RL) model to some given behavioral data under a multi-armed bandit environment. These models have received much attention in recent years for characterizing human and animal…

Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science · Computer Science 2026-03-27 Hao Zhu , Jasper Hoffmann , Baohe Zhang , Joschka Boedecker

We study budget-constrained contextual bandits with adversarial contexts, where each action yields a random reward and incurs a random cost. We adopt the standard realizability assumption: conditioned on the observed context, rewards and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-08 Dhruv Sarkar , Abhishek Sinha

Contextual bandits are widely-used in the study of learning-based control policies for finite action spaces. While the problem is well-studied for bandits with perfectly observed context vectors, little is known about the case of…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2022-02-03 Hongju Park , Mohamad Kazem Shirani Faradonbeh

In this paper, we analyze the problem of online convex optimization in different settings, including different feedback types (full-information/semi-bandit/bandit/etc) in either stochastic or non-stochastic setting and different notions of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-23 Mohammad Pedramfar , Vaneet Aggarwal

Online platforms take proactive measures to detect and address undesirable behavior, aiming to focus these resource-intensive efforts where such behavior is most prevalent. This article considers the problem of efficient sampling for…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-03-28 Jacob Morrier , Rafal Kocielnik , R. Michael Alvarez

This work explores the idea of a causal contextual multi-armed bandit approach to automated marketing, where we estimate and optimize the causal (incremental) effects. Focusing on causal effect leads to better return on investment (ROI) by…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-10-05 Neela Sawant , Chitti Babu Namballa , Narayanan Sadagopan , Houssam Nassif

We study data poisoning attacks in the online setting where training items arrive sequentially, and the attacker may perturb the current item to manipulate online learning. Importantly, the attacker has no knowledge of future training items…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-06-03 Xuezhou Zhang , Xiaojin Zhu , Laurent Lessard

Gradient attacks and data poisoning tamper with the training of machine learning algorithms to maliciously alter them and have been proven to be equivalent in convex settings. The extent of harm these attacks can produce in non-convex…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-12-12 Wassim Bouaziz , El-Mahdi El-Mhamdi , Nicolas Usunier

We create a computationally tractable algorithm for contextual bandits with continuous actions having unknown structure. Our reduction-style algorithm composes with most supervised learning representations. We prove that it works in a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-12-07 Maryam Majzoubi , Chicheng Zhang , Rajan Chari , Akshay Krishnamurthy , John Langford , Aleksandrs Slivkins

Modern systems, such as digital platforms and service systems, increasingly rely on contextual bandits for online decision-making; however, their deployment can inadvertently create unfair exposure among arms, undermining long-term platform…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2026-02-05 Qingwen Zhang , Wenjia Wang