English

Multi-Agent Combinatorial-Multi-Armed-Bandit framework for the Submodular Welfare Problem under Bandit Feedback

Computer Science and Game Theory 2026-02-19 v1 Machine Learning Machine Learning

Abstract

We study the \emph{Submodular Welfare Problem} (SWP), where items are partitioned among agents with monotone submodular utilities to maximize the total welfare under \emph{bandit feedback}. Classical SWP assumes full value-oracle access, achieving (11/e)(1-1/e) approximations via continuous-greedy algorithms. We extend this to a \emph{multi-agent combinatorial bandit} framework (\textsc{MA-CMAB}), where actions are partitions under full-bandit feedback with non-communicating agents. Unlike prior single-agent or separable multi-agent CMAB models, our setting couples agents through shared allocation constraints. We propose an explore-then-commit strategy with randomized assignments, achieving O~(T2/3)\tilde{\mathcal{O}}(T^{2/3}) regret against a (11/e)(1-1/e) benchmark, the first such guarantee for partition-based submodular welfare problem under bandit feedback.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.16183,
  title  = {Multi-Agent Combinatorial-Multi-Armed-Bandit framework for the Submodular Welfare Problem under Bandit Feedback},
  author = {Subham Pokhriyal and Shweta Jain and Vaneet Aggarwal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.16183},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:40:51.127Z