Provably Efficient Learning in Partially Observable Contextual Bandit

Xueping Gong, Jiheng Zhang

Primary Area: transfer learning, meta learning, and lifelong learning

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Keywords: partially observable contextual bandit, causal bound, provably efficient

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Abstract: In this paper, we investigate transfer learning in partially observable contextual bandits, where agents have limited knowledge from other agents and partial information about hidden confounders. We first convert the problem to identifying or partially identifying causal effects between actions and rewards through optimization problems. To solve these optimization problems, we sample compatible causal models via sequentially solving linear programmings to obtain causal bounds with the consideration of estimation error. Our sampling algorithms provide desirable convergence results for suitable sampling distributions. We then show how causal bounds can be applied to improving classical bandit algorithms and affect the regrets with respect to the size of action sets and function spaces. Notably, in the task with function approximation which allows us to handle general context distributions, our method improves the order dependence on function space size compared with previous literatures. We formally prove that our causally enhanced algorithms outperform classical bandit algorithms and achieve orders of magnitude faster convergence rates. Finally, we perform simulations that demonstrate the efficiency of our strategy compared to the current state-of-the-art methods.

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Submission Number: 236