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Training chatbots using the reinforcement learning paradigm is challenging due to high-dimensional states, infinite action spaces and the difficulty in specifying the reward function. We address such problems using clustered actions instead…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2019-08-28 Heriberto Cuayáhuitl , Donghyeon Lee , Seonghan Ryu , Sungja Choi , Inchul Hwang , Jihie Kim

Effective emotional support hinges on understanding users' emotions and needs to provide meaningful comfort during multi-turn interactions. Large Language Models (LLMs) show great potential for expressing empathy; however, they often…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-05-23 Jing Ye , Lu Xiang , Yaping Zhang , Chengqing Zong

Preference-based Reinforcement Learning (PbRL) is a paradigm in which an RL agent learns to optimize a task using pair-wise preference-based feedback over trajectories, rather than explicit reward signals. While PbRL has demonstrated…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-04-18 Wenhao Zhan , Masatoshi Uehara , Wen Sun , Jason D. Lee

Reward models (RMs) are essential for aligning Large Language Models (LLMs) with human preferences. However, they often struggle with capturing complex human preferences and generalizing to unseen data. To address these challenges, we…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2025-08-06 Anamika Lochab , Ruqi Zhang

Personalized retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) aims to produce user-tailored responses by incorporating retrieved user profiles alongside the input query. Existing methods primarily focus on improving retrieval and rely on large language…

Information Retrieval · Computer Science 2025-08-12 Kepu Zhang , Teng Shi , Weijie Yu , Jun Xu

Reinforcement Learning (RL) faces significant challenges in adaptive healthcare interventions, such as dementia care, where data is scarce, decisions require interpretability, and underlying patient-state dynamic are complex and causal in…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-12-02 Wenzheng Zhao , Ran Zhang , Ruth Palan Lopez , Shu-Fen Wung , Fengpei Yuan

The deployment of reinforcement learning (RL) in the real world comes with challenges in calibrating user trust and expectations. As a step toward developing RL systems that are able to communicate their competencies, we present a method of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-11-19 Aastha Acharya , Rebecca Russell , Nisar R. Ahmed

The ability to generate appropriate verbal and non-verbal backchannels by an agent during human-robot interaction greatly enhances the interaction experience. Backchannels are particularly important in applications like tutoring and…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2019-08-07 Nusrah Hussain , Engin Erzin , T. Metin Sezgin , Yucel Yemez

With generative AI advancing, empathy in human-AI interaction is essential. While prior work focuses on emotional reflection, emotional exploration, key to deeper engagement, remains overlooked. Existing LLMs rely on text which captures…

Audio and Speech Processing · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-02-12 Jing-Han Chen , Bo-Hao Su , Ya-Tse Wu , Chi-Chun Lee

This paper argues that Large Language Models (LLMs) should incorporate explicit mechanisms for human empathy. As LLMs become increasingly deployed in high-stakes human-centered settings, their success depends not only on correctness or…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-04-14 Xiaoxing You , Qiang Huang , Jun Yu

Empathetic response generation is a crucial task for creating more human-like and supportive conversational agents. However, existing methods face a core trade-off between the analytical depth of specialized models and the generative…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2026-01-21 Ziqi Liu , Ziyang Zhou , Yilin Li , Haiyang Zhang , Yangbin Chen

Reinforcement learning (RL) systems can be complex and non-interpretable, making it challenging for non-AI experts to understand or intervene in their decisions. This is due in part to the sequential nature of RL in which actions are chosen…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-04-16 Amal Alabdulkarim , Madhuri Singh , Gennie Mansi , Kaely Hall , Upol Ehsan , Mark O. Riedl

Empathic accuracy (EA) is the ability to accurately understand another person\textquotesingle s thoughts and feelings, which is crucial for social and psychological interactions. Traditionally, EA is assessed by comparing a…

Applications · Statistics 2025-08-08 Linh H Nghiem , Jing Cao , Chrystyna Kouros , Chul Moon

Reinforcement Learning (RL) heavily relies on the careful design of the reward function. However, accurately assigning rewards to each state-action pair in Long-Term Reinforcement Learning (LTRL) tasks remains a significant challenge. As a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-03 Qi Ju , Falin Hei , Zhemei Fang , Yunfeng Luo

Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is the predominant algorithm for training text generation models. This paradigm relies on direct supervision examples, which is not applicable to many emerging applications, such as generating adversarial…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2022-10-25 Han Guo , Bowen Tan , Zhengzhong Liu , Eric P. Xing , Zhiting Hu

Reinforcement Learning (RL) has emerged as a powerful paradigm for training LLM-based agents, yet remains limited by low sample efficiency, stemming not only from sparse outcome feedback but also from the agent's inability to leverage prior…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-19 Dilxat Muhtar , Jiashun Liu , Wei Gao , Weixun Wang , Shaopan Xiong , Ju Huang , Siran Yang , Wenbo Su , Jiamang Wang , Ling Pan , Bo Zheng

This article surveys reinforcement learning approaches in social robotics. Reinforcement learning is a framework for decision-making problems in which an agent interacts through trial-and-error with its environment to discover an optimal…

Robotics · Computer Science 2021-02-12 Neziha Akalin , Amy Loutfi

A hallmark of life on Earth is the ability of agents to exert causal power and be drivers of subsequent events. This is key to cognition at all scales. Causal emergence, measuring the degree to which an agent exerts unique predictive power…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2026-05-11 Federico Pigozzi , Michael Levin

Measuring empathy in conversation can be challenging, as empathy is a complex and multifaceted psychological construct that involves both cognitive and emotional components. Human evaluations can be subjective, leading to inconsistent…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2023-01-31 Bushra Amjad , Muhammad Zeeshan , Mirza Omer Beg

Reinforcement learning (RL) is an effective approach to learn an optimal dialog policy for task-oriented visual dialog systems. A common practice is to apply RL on a neural sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) framework with the action space…

Computation and Language · Computer Science 2019-10-30 Mingyang Zhou , Josh Arnold , Zhou Yu