Taming the monster: A fast and simple algorithm for contextual bandits

Alekh Agarwal, Daniel Hsu, Satyen Kale, John Langford, Lihong Li, Robert E. Schapire

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

129 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a new algorithm for the contextual bandit learning problem, where the learner repeatedly takes one of K actions in response to the observed context, and observes the reward only for that action. Our method assumes access to an oracle for solving fully supervised cost-sensitive classification problems and achieves the statistically optimal regret guarantee with only Õ(√KT) oracle calls across all T rounds. By doing so, we obtain the most practical contextual bandit learning algorithm amongst approaches that work for general policy classes. We conduct a proof-of-concept experiment which demonstrates the excellent computational and statistical performance of (an online variant of) our algorithm relative to several strong baselines.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication31st International Conference on Machine Learning, ICML 2014
PublisherInternational Machine Learning Society (IMLS)
Pages3611-3619
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9781634393973
StatePublished - 2014
Event31st International Conference on Machine Learning, ICML 2014 - Beijing, China
Duration: Jun 21 2014Jun 26 2014

Publication series

Name31st International Conference on Machine Learning, ICML 2014
Volume5

Other

Other31st International Conference on Machine Learning, ICML 2014
Country/TerritoryChina
CityBeijing
Period6/21/146/26/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Taming the monster: A fast and simple algorithm for contextual bandits'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this