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Related papers: Online Contract Design

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In this paper we introduce the \emph{semi-online} model that generalizes the classical online computational model. The semi-online model postulates that the unknown future has a predictable part and an adversarial part; these parts can be…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-09-06 Ravi Kumar , Manish Purohit , Aaron Schild , Zoya Svitkina , Erik Vee

In this paper, we consider a general distributed system with multiple agents who select and then implement actions in the system. The system has an operator with a centralized objective. The agents, on the other hand, are selfinterested and…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2020-01-15 Donya Ghavidel , Pratyush Chakraborty , Enrique Baeyens , Vijay Gupta , Pramod P. Khargonekar

Crowdsourcing has emerged as a paradigm for leveraging human intelligence and activity to solve a wide range of tasks. However, strategic workers will find enticement in their self-interest to free-ride and attack in a crowdsourcing contest…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2018-01-01 Jianfeng Lu , Yun Xin , Zhao Zhang , Shaojie Tang , Songyuan Yan , Changbing Tang

We study principal-agent problems in which a principal commits to an outcome-dependent payment scheme (a.k.a. contract) so as to induce an agent to take a costly, unobservable action. We relax the assumption that the principal perfectly…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2021-06-02 Matteo Castiglioni , Alberto Marchesi , Nicola Gatti

Online platforms increasingly rely on sequential decision-making algorithms to allocate resources, match users, or control exposure, while facing growing pressure to ensure fairness over time. We study a general online decision-making…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-02-13 Rui Chen , Oktay Gunluk , Andrea Lodi , Guanyi Wang

AI systems that learn through reward feedback about the actions they take are increasingly deployed in domains that have significant impact on our daily life. However, in many cases the online rewards should not be the only guiding…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2018-09-18 Avinash Balakrishnan , Djallel Bouneffouf , Nicholas Mattei , Francesca Rossi

We revisit the concept of "adversary" in online learning, motivated by solving robust optimization and adversarial training using online learning methods. While one of the classical setups in online learning deals with the "adversarial"…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-01-28 Sebastian Pokutta , Huan Xu

We study the mechanism design problem in the setting where agents are rewarded using information only. This problem is motivated by the increasing interest in secure multiparty computation techniques. More specifically, we consider the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2018-09-28 Simina Brânzei , Claudio Orlandi , Guang Yang

We consider online procurement auctions, where the agents arrive sequentially, in random order, and have private costs for their services. The buyer aims to maximize a monotone submodular value function for the subset of agents whose…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-04-15 Andreas Charalampopoulos , Dimitris Fotakis , Panagiotis Patsilinakos , Thanos Tolias

Online bipartite-matching platforms are ubiquitous and find applications in important areas such as crowdsourcing and ridesharing. In the most general form, the platform consists of three entities: two sides to be matched and a platform…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-06 Seyed A. Esmaeili , Sharmila Duppala , Davidson Cheng , Vedant Nanda , Aravind Srinivasan , John P. Dickerson

We identify a subtle security issue that impacts the design of smart contracts, because agents may themselves deploy smart contracts (side contracts). Typically, equilibria of games are analyzed in vitro, under the assumption that players…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-05-05 Daji Landis , Nikolaj I. Schwartzbach

Coalition formation is concerned with the question of how to partition a set of agents into disjoint coalitions according to their preferences. Deviating from most of the previous work, we consider an online variant of the problem, where…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-03-11 Martin Bullinger , René Romen

Overcoming the impact of selfish behavior of rational players in multiagent systems is a fundamental problem in game theory. Without any intervention from a central agent, strategic users take actions in order to maximize their personal…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-09-06 Maria-Florina Balcan , Matteo Pozzi , Dravyansh Sharma

We introduce a class of learning problems where the agent is presented with a series of tasks. Intuitively, if there is relation among those tasks, then the information gained during execution of one task has value for the execution of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2012-09-06 Christos Dimitrakakis

Traditional approaches to the design of multi-agent navigation algorithms consider the environment as a fixed constraint, despite the obvious influence of spatial constraints on agents' performance. Yet hand-designing improved environment…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-09-26 Zhan Gao , Amanda Prorok

We study multi-agent contracts, in which a principal delegates a task to multiple agents and incentivizes them to exert effort. Prior research has mostly focused on maximizing the principal's utility, often resulting in highly disparate…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-01-26 Ke Ding , Bo Li , Ankang Sun

The threat of algorithmic collusion, and whether it merits regulatory intervention, remains debated, as existing evaluations of its emergence often rely on long learning horizons, assumptions about counterparty rationality in adopting…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2026-03-11 Yuhong Luo , Daniel Schoepflin , Xintong Wang

We study linear contracts for combinatorial problems in multi-agent settings. In this problem, a principal designs a linear contract with several agents, each of whom can decide to take a costly action or not. The principal observes only…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-12-19 Kanstantsin Pashkovich , Jacob Skitsko

This paper compares two leading approaches for robust optimization in the models of online algorithms and mechanism design. Competitive analysis compares the performance of an online algorithm to an offline benchmark in worst-case over…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2020-09-09 Jason Hartline , Aleck Johnsen , Yingkai Li

In this paper we study a principal-agent problem in continuous time with multiple lump-sum payments (contracts) paid at different deterministic times. We reduce the non-zero sum Stackelberg game between the principal and agent to a standard…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-11-08 Guillermo Alonso Alvarez , Erhan Bayraktar , Ibrahim Ekren , Liwei Huang