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We consider the problem of optimal dynamic information acquisition from many correlated information sources. Each period, the decision-maker jointly takes an action and allocates a fixed number of observations across the available sources.…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2018-05-15 Annie Liang , Xiaosheng Mu , Vasilis Syrgkanis

We propose a model for making data acquisition decisions for variables in contextual stochastic optimisation problems. Data acquisition decisions are typically treated as separate and fixed. We explore problem settings in which the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-22 Egon Peršak , Miguel F. Anjos

We explore the connection between an agent's decision problem and her ranking of information structures. We find that a finite amount of ordinal data on the agent's ranking of experiments is enough to identify her (finite) set of…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-04-02 Mark Whitmeyer

This paper addresses two classes of different, yet interrelated optimization problems. The first class of problems involves a robot that must locate a hidden target in an environment that consists of a set of concurrent rays. The second…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2015-04-28 Spyros Angelopoulos

We study secretary problems in settings with multiple agents. In the standard secretary problem, a sequence of arbitrary awards arrive online, in a random order, and a single decision maker makes an immediate and irrevocable decision…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2020-07-15 Tomer Ezra , Michal Feldman , Ron Kupfer

We consider the standard moral hazard problem with limited liability. The first-order approach (FOA) is the main tool for its solution, but existing sufficient conditions for its validity are restrictive. Our main result shows that the FOA…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-02-06 Eduardo Azevedo , Ilan Wolff

Contemporary machine learning paradigm excels in statistical data analysis, solving problems that classical AI couldn't. However, it faces key limitations, such as a lack of integration with planning, incomprehensible internal structure,…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-01-29 Zeki Doruk Erden , Boi Faltings

Learning by observation can be of key importance whenever agents sharing similar features want to learn from each other. This paper presents an agent architecture that enables software agents to learn by direct observation of the actions…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2014-02-05 Paulo Roberto Costa , Luís Miguel Botelho

We design mechanisms for online procurement of data held by strategic agents for machine learning tasks. The challenge is to use past data to actively price future data and give learning guarantees even when an agent's cost for revealing…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2015-06-09 Jacob Abernethy , Yiling Chen , Chien-Ju Ho , Bo Waggoner

We study an abstract optimal auction problem for a single good or service. This problem includes environments where agents have budgets, risk preferences, or multi-dimensional preferences over several possible configurations of the good…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2012-03-23 Saeed Alaei , Hu Fu , Nima Haghpanah , Jason Hartline , Azarakhsh Malekian

We present a model of a forecaster who must predict the future value of a variable that depends on an exogenous state and on the intervention of a policy-maker. We investigate the incentives of the forecaster to acquire costly private…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-04-02 Augusto Nieto-Barthaburu

We study a moral hazard problem with adverse selection: a risk-neutral agent can directly control the output distribution and possess private information about the production environment. The principal designs a menu of contracts satisfying…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-01-08 Siwen Liu

We present an effective technique for training deep learning agents capable of negotiating on a set of clauses in a contract agreement using a simple communication protocol. We use Multi Agent Reinforcement Learning to train both agents…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-09-20 Vishal Sunder , Lovekesh Vig , Arnab Chatterjee , Gautam Shroff

We study the role of regulatory inspections in a contract design problem in which a principal interacts separately with multiple agents. Each agent's hidden action includes a dimension that determines whether they undertake an extra costly…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-11-07 Alireza Fallah , Michael I. Jordan

We consider a counter-adversarial sequential decision-making problem where an agent computes its private belief (posterior distribution) of the current state of the world, by filtering private information. According to its private belief,…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2020-04-09 Inês Lourenço , Robert Mattila , Cristian R. Rojas , Bo Wahlberg

We present a first approximation of agent behaviour in a generalized model in contract theory. This model relaxes some of the the assumptions of one of the classical models allowing to include a broader range of agents. We introduce the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2011-07-15 Francisco Gutiérrez , Camilo Argoty , Stefany Moreno

Can AI agents deal with hard choices -- cases where options are incommensurable because multiple objectives are pursued simultaneously? Adopting a technologically engaged approach distinct from existing philosophical literature, I submit…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-04-21 Kangyu Wang

We study a continuous time contracting model in which a principal hires a risk averse agent to manage a project over a finite horizon and provides sequential payments whose timing is endogenously determined. The resulting nonzero-sum…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-12-01 Guillermo Alonso Alvarez , Ibrahim Ekren , Liwei Huang

We study an online learning version of the generalized principal-agent model, where a principal interacts repeatedly with a strategic agent possessing private types, private rewards, and taking unobservable actions. The agent is non-myopic,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-11 Yuchen Wu , Xinyi Zhong , Zhuoran Yang

We propose a new principal-agent framework where a principal communicates a roadmap -- a set of plausible outcome models and a prior belief over them -- to guide an agent who is learning the value of innovation. The agent trusts the prior…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-02-24 Florian Mudekereza