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We study a generic principal-agent problem in continuous time on a finite time horizon. We introduce a framework in which the agent is allowed to employ measure-valued controls and characterise the continuation utility as a solution to a…

Probability · Mathematics 2025-12-01 Daniel Kršek , Dylan Possamaï

We consider the principal-agent problem with heterogeneous agents. Previous works assume that the principal signs independent incentive contracts with every agent to make them invest more efforts on the tasks. However, in many…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2019-11-12 Shenke Xiao , Zihe Wang , Mengjing Chen , Pingzhong Tang , Xiwang Yang

Modern AI systems increasingly operate inside markets and institutions where data, behavior, and incentives are endogenous. This paper develops an economic foundation for multi-agent learning by studying a principal-agent interaction in a…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2026-01-08 Nassim Helou

A principal must allocate a set of heterogeneous tasks (or objects) among multiple agents. The principal has preferences over the allocation. Each agent has preferences over which tasks they are assigned, which are their private…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-01-29 Quitzé Valenzuela-Stookey

Our aim is to design mechanisms that motivate all agents to reveal their predictions truthfully and promptly. For myopic agents, proper scoring rules induce truthfulness. However, as has been described in the literature, when agents take…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2019-12-05 Amir Ban

Opponent modeling consists in modeling the strategy or preferences of an agent thanks to the data it provides. In the context of automated negotiation and with machine learning, it can result in an advantage so overwhelming that it may…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2017-01-02 Cédric Buron , Sylvain Ductor , Zahia Guessoum

We consider an infinite horizon dynamic mechanism design problem with interdependent valuations. In this setting the type of each agent is assumed to be evolving according to a first order Markov process and is independent of the types of…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2015-06-26 Swaprava Nath , Onno Zoeter , Y. Narahari , Christopher R. Dance

Grounding is the collaborative process of establishing mutual belief sufficient for a communicative goal. While static grounding maps language to a shared context, dynamic grounding requires agents to negotiate meaning across turns. Current…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2026-05-14 Yiheng Yao , Chelsea Zou , Robert D. Hawkins

Evolution has produced a multi-scale mosaic of interacting adaptive units. Innovations arise when perturbations push parts of the system away from stable equilibria into new regimes where previously well-adapted solutions no longer work.…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2019-03-12 Joel Z. Leibo , Edward Hughes , Marc Lanctot , Thore Graepel

Enhancing mathematical reasoning in Large Language Models typically demands massive datasets, yet data efficiency remains a critical bottleneck. While Curriculum Learning attempts to structure this process, standard unidirectional…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-03-06 Boren Hu , Xiao Liu , Boci Peng , Xinping Zhao , Xiaoran Shang , Yun Zhu , Lijun Wu

This paper studies dynamic mechanism design in a quasilinear Markovian environment and analyzes a direct mechanism model of a principal-agent framework in which the agent is allowed to exit at any period. We consider that the agent's…

Dynamical Systems · Mathematics 2021-05-10 Tao Zhang , Quanyan Zhu

A principal contracts with an agent through an informed delegate. Although the principal cannot directly mediate the interaction, she can restrict the menus of contracts the delegate may offer. We characterize the outcomes implementable…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-05-22 João Thereze , Udayan Vaidya

Mobile agents research is clearly aiming towards imposing agent based development as the next generation of tools for writing software. This paper comes with its own contribution to this global goal by introducing a novel unifying framework…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2007-05-23 Tudor Marian , Bogdan Dumitriu , Mihaela Dinsoreanu , Ioan Salomie

The increasing deployment of AI is shaping the future landscape of the internet, which is set to become an integrated ecosystem of AI agents. Orchestrating the interaction among AI agents necessitates decentralized, self-sustaining…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-10-08 Dima Ivanov , Paul Dütting , Inbal Talgam-Cohen , Tonghan Wang , David C. Parkes

In this paper, we study belief elicitation about an uncertain future event, where the reports will affect a principal's decision. We study two problems that can arise in this setting: (1) Agents may have an interest in the outcome of the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-03-01 Manuel Wuthrich , Mark York , David C. Parkes

A principal uses payments conditioned on stochastic outcomes of a team project to elicit costly effort from the team members. We develop a multi-agent generalization of a classic first-order approach to contract optimization by leveraging…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-03-13 Krishna Dasaratha , Benjamin Golub , Anant Shah

Fraud can pose a challenge in many resource allocation domains, including social service delivery and credit provision. For example, agents may misreport private information in order to gain benefits or access to credit. To mitigate this, a…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-04-29 Sanmay Das , Fang-Yi Yu , Yuang Zhang

We consider a hypergraph (I,C), with possible multiple (hyper)edges and loops, in which the vertices $i\in I$ are interpreted as agents, and the edges $c\in C$ as contracts that can be concluded between agents. The preferences of each agent…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-05-16 Vladimir I. Danilov , Alexander V. Karzanov

When machine learning is outsourced to a rational agent, conflicts of interest might arise and severely impact predictive performance. In this work, we propose a theoretical framework for incentive-aware delegation of machine learning…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-12-07 Eden Saig , Inbal Talgam-Cohen , Nir Rosenfeld

We study the incentivized information acquisition problem, where a principal hires an agent to gather information on her behalf. Such a problem is modeled as a Stackelberg game between the principal and the agent, where the principal…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-08-08 Siyu Chen , Jibang Wu , Yifan Wu , Zhuoran Yang