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We present an algorithm based on the \emph{Optimism in the Face of Uncertainty} (OFU) principle which is able to learn Reinforcement Learning (RL) modeled by Markov decision process (MDP) with finite state-action space efficiently. By…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-01-01 Zihan Zhang , Xiangyang Ji

State of the art online learning procedures focus either on selecting the best alternative ("best arm identification") or on minimizing the cost (the "regret"). We merge these two objectives by providing the theoretical analysis of cost…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-02-27 Rémy Degenne , Thomas Nedelec , Clément Calauzènes , Vianney Perchet

We study Online Convex Optimization (OCO) with adversarial constraints, where an online algorithm must make sequential decisions to minimize both convex loss functions and cumulative constraint violations. We focus on a setting where the…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-03-14 Jordan Lekeufack , Michael I. Jordan

In this paper, we study oracle-efficient algorithms for beyond worst-case analysis of online learning. We focus on two settings. First, the smoothed analysis setting of [RST11,HRS22] where an adversary is constrained to generating samples…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-11-23 Nika Haghtalab , Yanjun Han , Abhishek Shetty , Kunhe Yang

We propose an online learning algorithm that adaptively designs a decentralized linear quadratic regulator when the system model is unknown a priori and new data samples from a single system trajectory become progressively available. The…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-07-08 Lintao Ye , Ming Chi , Ruiquan Liao , Vijay Gupta

We study the problem of designing mechanisms for \emph{information acquisition} scenarios. This setting models strategic interactions between an uniformed \emph{receiver} and a set of informed \emph{senders}. In our model the senders…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-13 Federico Cacciamani , Matteo Castiglioni , Nicola Gatti

Lifelong reinforcement learning provides a promising framework for developing versatile agents that can accumulate knowledge over a lifetime of experience and rapidly learn new tasks by building upon prior knowledge. However, current…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2015-05-22 Haitham Bou Ammar , Rasul Tutunov , Eric Eaton

In this paper, we investigate the existence of online learning algorithms with bandit feedback that simultaneously guarantee $O(1)$ regret compared to a given comparator strategy, and $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{T})$ regret compared to any fixed…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-05 Adrian Müller , Jon Schneider , Stratis Skoulakis , Luca Viano , Volkan Cevher

We provide the first oracle efficient sublinear regret algorithms for adversarial versions of the contextual bandit problem. In this problem, the learner repeatedly makes an action on the basis of a context and receives reward for the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2016-02-09 Vasilis Syrgkanis , Akshay Krishnamurthy , Robert E. Schapire

We study reinforcement learning (RL) for a class of continuous-time linear-quadratic (LQ) control problems for diffusions, where states are scalar-valued and running control rewards are absent but volatilities of the state processes depend…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-25 Yilie Huang , Yanwei Jia , Xun Yu Zhou

We study the problem of oracle-efficient hybrid online learning when the features are generated by an unknown i.i.d. process and the labels are generated adversarially. Assuming access to an (offline) ERM oracle, we show that there exists a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-02-13 Changlong Wu , Jin Sima , Wojciech Szpankowski

Reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) replaces hard-to-specify rewards with pairwise trajectory preferences, yet regret-oriented theory often assumes that preference labels are generated consistently from a single ground-truth…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-03 Ming Shi , Yingbin Liang , Ness B. Shroff , Ananthram Swami

Online learning methods yield sequential regret bounds under minimal assumptions and provide in-expectation risk bounds for statistical learning. However, despite the apparent advantage of online guarantees over their statistical…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-08-16 Dirk van der Hoeven , Nikita Zhivotovskiy , Nicolò Cesa-Bianchi

We present methods for online linear optimization that take advantage of benign (as opposed to worst-case) sequences. Specifically if the sequence encountered by the learner is described well by a known "predictable process", the algorithms…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2014-05-27 Alexander Rakhlin , Karthik Sridharan

We consider the well-studied dueling bandit problem, where a learner aims to identify near-optimal actions using pairwise comparisons, under the constraint of differential privacy. We consider a general class of utility-based preference…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-03-25 Aadirupa Saha , Hilal Asi

We consider an agent interacting with an environment in a single stream of actions, observations, and rewards, with no reset. This process is not assumed to be a Markov Decision Process (MDP). Rather, the agent has several representations…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2013-03-19 Odalric-Ambrym Maillard , Phuong Nguyen , Ronald Ortner , Daniil Ryabko

We study the effects of approximate inference on the performance of Thompson sampling in the $k$-armed bandit problems. Thompson sampling is a successful algorithm for online decision-making but requires posterior inference, which often…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-01-16 My Phan , Yasin Abbasi-Yadkori , Justin Domke

We study an online market-making problem in which a learner sequentially posts bid and ask prices for a single asset while interacting with traders holding private valuations. Unlike existing online learning formulations that assume fully…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-20 Davide Maran , Marcello Restelli

While a large body of empirical results show that temporally-extended actions and options may significantly affect the learning performance of an agent, the theoretical understanding of how and when options can be beneficial in online…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-04-18 Ronan Fruit , Alessandro Lazaric

We study various discrete nonlinear combinatorial optimization problems in an online learning framework. In the first part, we address the question of whether there are negative results showing that getting a vanishing (or even vanishing…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-06-24 Evripidis Bampis , Dimitris Christou , Bruno Escoffier , Nguyen Kim Thang