Related papers: Zeroth Order Non-convex optimization with Dueling-…
In this paper, we study combinatorial pure exploration for dueling bandits (CPE-DB): we have multiple candidates for multiple positions as modeled by a bipartite graph, and in each round we sample a duel of two candidates on one position…
A version of the dueling bandit problem is addressed in which a Condorcet winner may not exist. Two algorithms are proposed that instead seek to minimize regret with respect to the Copeland winner, which, unlike the Condorcet winner, is…
We consider the case of derivative-free algorithms for non-convex optimization, also known as zero order algorithms, that use only function evaluations rather than gradients. For a wide variety of gradient approximators based on finite…
We study the problem of $K$-armed dueling bandit for both stochastic and adversarial environments, where the goal of the learner is to aggregate information through relative preferences of pair of decisions points queried in an online…
Comparison-Based Optimization (CBO) is an optimization paradigm that assumes only very limited access to the objective function f(x). Despite the growing relevance of CBO to real-world applications, this field has received little attention…
We revisit classic algorithmic search and optimization problems from the perspective of competition. Rather than a single optimizer minimizing expected cost, we consider a zero-sum game in which an optimization problem is presented to two…
Bayesian optimization is a framework for global search via maximum a posteriori updates rather than simulated annealing, and has gained prominence for decision-making under uncertainty. In this work, we cast Bayesian optimization as a…
In this paper, we consider the Gaussian process (GP) bandit optimization problem in a non-stationary environment. To capture external changes, the black-box function is allowed to be time-varying within a reproducing kernel Hilbert space…
Federated optimization studies the problem of collaborative function optimization among multiple clients (e.g. mobile devices or organizations) under the coordination of a central server. Since the data is collected separately by each…
Bandit Convex Optimization (BCO) is a fundamental framework for modeling sequential decision-making with partial information, where the only feedback available to the player is the one-point or two-point function values. In this paper, we…
Kernelized bandits, also known as Bayesian optimization (BO), has been a prevalent method for optimizing complicated black-box reward functions. Various BO algorithms have been theoretically shown to enjoy upper bounds on their cumulative…
We consider online convex optimization with a zero-order oracle feedback. In particular, the decision maker does not know the explicit representation of the time-varying cost functions, or their gradients. At each time step, she observes…
Frequently, when dealing with many machine learning models, optimization problems appear to be challenging due to a limited understanding of the constructions and characterizations of the objective functions in these problems. Therefore,…
Bandit convex optimisation is a fundamental framework for studying zeroth-order convex optimisation. This book covers the many tools used for this problem, including cutting plane methods, interior point methods, continuous exponential…
In this paper, we propose and analyze algorithms for zeroth-order optimization of non-convex composite objectives, focusing on reducing the complexity dependence on dimensionality. This is achieved by exploiting the low dimensional…
We present a novel gradient-free algorithm to solve a convex stochastic optimization problem, such as those encountered in medicine, physics, and machine learning (e.g., adversarial multi-armed bandit problem), where the objective function…
We introduce the dueling teams problem, a new online-learning setting in which the learner observes noisy comparisons of disjoint pairs of $k$-sized teams from a universe of $n$ players. The goal of the learner is to minimize the number of…
Stochastic optimization finds a wide range of applications in operations research and management science. However, existing stochastic optimization techniques usually require the information of random samples (e.g., demands in the…
This paper studies a bandit optimization problem where the goal is to maximize a function $f(x)$ over $T$ periods for some unknown strongly concave function $f$. We consider a new pairwise comparison oracle, where the decision-maker chooses…
Bayesian Optimization is critically vulnerable to extreme outliers. Existing provably robust methods typically assume a bounded cumulative corruption budget, which makes them defenseless against even a single corruption of sufficient…