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We study a sequential resource allocation problem where a decision maker selects subsets of agents at each period to maximize overall outcomes without prior knowledge of individual-level effects. Our framework applies to settings such as…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-08-29 Katherine B. Adams , Justin J. Boutilier , Qinyang He , Yonatan Mintz

In a multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem a gambler needs to choose at each round of play one of K arms, each characterized by an unknown reward distribution. Reward realizations are only observed when an arm is selected, and the gambler's…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-06-11 Omar Besbes , Yonatan Gur , Assaf Zeevi

Multi-arm bandits are gaining popularity as they enable real-world sequential decision-making across application areas, including clinical trials, recommender systems, and online decision-making. Consequently, there is an increased desire…

Methodology · Statistics 2023-03-01 Dae Woong Ham , Iavor Bojinov , Michael Lindon , Martin Tingley

Reinforcement learning studies how to balance exploration and exploitation in real-world systems, optimizing interactions with the world while simultaneously learning how the world operates. One general class of algorithms for such learning…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2018-08-10 Iñigo Urteaga , Chris H. Wiggins

Maximising the detection of intrusions is a fundamental and often critical aim of perimeter surveillance. Commonly, this requires a decision-maker to optimally allocate multiple searchers to segments of the perimeter. We consider a scenario…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-11-12 James A. Grant , David S. Leslie , Kevin Glazebrook , Roberto Szechtman , Adam N. Letchford

We study the stochastic multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem where an underlying network structure enables side-observations across related actions. We use a bipartite graph to link actions to a set of unknowns, such that selecting an action…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-30 Ashutosh Soni , Peizhong Ju , Atilla Eryilmaz , Ness B. Shroff

Artificial behavioral agents are often evaluated based on their consistent behaviors and performance to take sequential actions in an environment to maximize some notion of cumulative reward. However, human decision making in real life…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2021-12-28 Baihan Lin , Guillermo Cecchi , Djallel Bouneffouf , Jenna Reinen , Irina Rish

In this paper, we consider a transfer Reinforcement Learning (RL) problem in continuous state and action spaces, under unobserved contextual information. For example, the context can represent the mental view of the world that an expert…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-06-08 Chenyu Liu , Yan Zhang , Yi Shen , Michael M. Zavlanos

Incentivized exploration in multi-armed bandits (MAB) has witnessed increasing interests and many progresses in recent years, where a principal offers bonuses to agents to do explorations on her behalf. However, almost all existing studies…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-10-28 Chengshuai Shi , Haifeng Xu , Wei Xiong , Cong Shen

In this paper, we provide the first investigation into adaptive combinatorial experimental design, focusing on the trade-off between regret minimization and statistical power in combinatorial multi-armed bandits (CMAB). While minimizing…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-02 Hongrui Xie , Junyu Cao , Kan Xu

Standard bandit algorithms that assume continual reallocation of measurement effort are challenging to implement due to delayed feedback and infrastructural/organizational difficulties. Motivated by practical instances involving a handful…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-08-16 Ethan Che , Hongseok Namkoong

Recent works on Multi-Armed Bandits (MAB) and Combinatorial Multi-Armed Bandits (COM-MAB) show good results on a global accuracy metric. This can be achieved, in the case of recommender systems, with personalization. However, with a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-09-17 Alexandre Letard , Tassadit Amghar , Olivier Camp , Nicolas Gutowski

Motivated by problems in search and detection we present a solution to a Combinatorial Multi-Armed Bandit (CMAB) problem with both heavy-tailed reward distributions and a new class of feedback, filtered semibandit feedback. In a CMAB…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-05-29 James A. Grant , David S. Leslie , Kevin Glazebrook , Roberto Szechtman

We study the explore-exploit tradeoff in distributed cooperative decision-making using the context of the multiarmed bandit (MAB) problem. For the distributed cooperative MAB problem, we design the cooperative UCB algorithm that comprises…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2019-09-17 Peter Landgren , Vaibhav Srivastava , Naomi Ehrich Leonard

This paper introduces the informational multi-armed bandit (IMAB) model in which at each round, a player chooses an arm, observes a symbol, and receives an unobserved reward in the form of the symbol's self-information. Thus, the expected…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2022-09-07 Nir Weinberger , Michal Yemini

Restless multi-armed bandits (RMAB) play a central role in modeling sequential decision making problems under an instantaneous activation constraint that at most B arms can be activated at any decision epoch. Each restless arm is endowed…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-05-03 Guojun Xiong , Jian Li

We study incentivized exploration for the multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem with non-stationary reward distributions, where players receive compensation for exploring arms other than the greedy choice and may provide biased feedback on the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-03-19 Sourav Chakraborty , Lijun Chen

Motivated by privacy concerns in sequential decision-making on sensitive data, we address the challenge of nonparametric contextual multi-armed bandits (MAB) under local differential privacy (LDP). We develop a uniform-confidence-bound-type…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-03-26 Yuheng Ma , Feiyu Jiang , Zifeng Zhao , Hanfang Yang , Yi Yu

We present an online tutoring system that learns to provide effective feedback to students after they answer questions incorrectly. Using data from one million students, the system learns which assistance action (e.g., one of multiple…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-08-04 Robin Schmucker , Nimish Pachapurkar , Shanmuga Bala , Miral Shah , Tom Mitchell

We study the nonstationary stochastic Multi-Armed Bandit (MAB) problem in which the distribution of rewards associated with each arm are assumed to be time-varying and the total variation in the expected rewards is subject to a variation…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-01-25 Lai Wei , Vaibhav Srivastava