A novel Python framework for Bayesian optimization known as GPflowOpt is introduced. The package is based on the popular GPflow library for Gaussian processes, leveraging the benefits of TensorFlow including automatic differentiation, parallelization and GPU computations for Bayesian optimization. Design goals focus on…
In this paper, we consider active information acquisition when the prediction model is meant to be applied on a targeted subset of the population. The goal is to label a pre-specified fraction of customers in the target or test set by iteratively querying for information from the non-target or training set. The number …
Slice Tuner optimizes data acquisition for accurate and fair machine learning models.
problem Acquiring enough data for all slices of data to ensure accurate and fair models.
method Selective data acquisition using convex optimization and iterative learning curve updates.
result Significantly outperforms baselines in model accuracy and fairness.
FunBO uses LLMs to discover effective acquisition functions for Bayesian optimization.
problem Designing optimal acquisition functions for Bayesian optimization across diverse problems.
method FunBO leverages FunSearch, an LLM, to learn and evaluate new acquisition functions.
result FunBO discovers acquisition functions that generalize well and outperform existing methods.
The study optimizes free trial lengths to boost subscriptions and consumer loyalty.
problem Optimizing free trial lengths to maximize customer acquisition and retention.
method A large-scale field experiment with personalized policy design and evaluation.
result Personalized free trial policies outperform uniform trial lengths.
This paper generalizes BO uncertainty measures using decision-theoretic entropies.
problem Efficiently inferring optima of expensive black-box functions.
method Introduces a generalized entropy measure from statistical decision theory to optimize Bayesian optimization.
result Demonstrates strong empirical performance across various sequential decision-making tasks.
ColaBO accelerates optimization with user beliefs.
problem Optimizing expensive functions with limited prior knowledge.
method General Bayesian framework for incorporating user beliefs.
result Significant optimization acceleration with accurate prior information.
Transferring knowledge across tasks to improve data-efficiency is one of the open key challenges in the field of global black-box optimization. Readily available algorithms are typically designed to be universal optimizers and, therefore, often suboptimal for specific tasks. We propose a novel transfer learning method …
Trieste optimizes black-box functions using TensorFlow for efficient decision-making.
problem Optimizing complex, black-box functions efficiently.
method Bayesian optimization and active learning with TensorFlow integration.
result Trieste enables efficient exploration of black-box functions.
Paper uses RNN to predict SaaS user lifetime value.
problem Predicting user lifetime value in SaaS applications.
method Recurrent Neural Network with multi-cell architecture, accounting for cohort, age-in-system, and contemporaneous information.
result Significantly improved prediction accuracy compared to existing models.
This research tackles unsupervised topic extraction in noisy social media data.
problem Capturing customer insights from social media data is challenging due to noise and heterogeneity.
method The research presents three nonparametric approaches based on the Variational Autoencoder framework: Embedded Dirichlet Process, Embedded Hierarchical Dirichlet Process, and time-aware Dynamic Embedded Dirichlet Process.
result The models achieve equal to better performance than state-of-the-art methods in topic extraction from noisy social media data.
The purpose of this study was to build a customer selection model based on 20 dimensions, including customer codes, total contribution, assets, deposit, profit, profit rate, trading volume, trading amount, turnover rate, order amount, withdraw amount, withdraw rate, process fee, process fee submitted, process fee retai…
DCE learns customer embeddings from digital activity and financial context.
problem Comprehensive customer understanding in financial services.
method Leverages customers' digital activity and financial context to learn dense representations.
result DCE showed performance lift in three prediction problems.
Financial institutions use LSTM models to predict customer goals.
problem Predicting customer goals and actions in financial services.
method Used LSTM models with state-space graph embeddings on historical customer traces.
result Demonstrated the effectiveness of LSTM models in predicting customer goals and actions.
Customer momentum is a positive relationship between a firm's returns and past returns of its customers.
problem Understanding the relationship between a firm's returns and its customers' past returns.
method Examined customer momentum using a long-short equally-weighted decile portfolio and Fama-French factor models.
result Customer momentum generates significant monthly returns and is statistically significant.
Bayesian optimization is a sample-efficient approach to solving global optimization problems. Along with a surrogate model, this approach relies on theoretically motivated value heuristics (acquisition functions) to guide the search process. Maximizing acquisition functions yields the best performance; unfortunately, t…
Evidence acquisition costs influence disclosure behavior and preference.
problem How evidence acquisition costs affect disclosure behavior and preference.
method Analyzes sender-receiver interactions with covert and overt evidence acquisition, varying certification costs.
result Equilibria converge to the Pareto-worst free-learning equilibrium as costs vanish, and receivers prefer covert to overt acquisition.
AFA evaluates AI feature acquisition strategies in domains with high costs.
problem Evaluate AI feature acquisition strategies in domains with high costs.
method Apply missing data methods and offline reinforcement learning under NDE and NUC assumptions.
result Propose a novel semi-offline reinforcement learning framework with three new estimators.
Bayesian optimization is a sample-efficient approach to global optimization that relies on theoretically motivated value heuristics (acquisition functions) to guide its search process. Fully maximizing acquisition functions produces the Bayes' decision rule, but this ideal is difficult to achieve since these functions …
Inexact acquisition solutions in BO lead to sublinear cumulative regret.
problem Inexact maximization of acquisition functions in Bayesian optimization.
method Define inaccuracy measure, establish cumulative regret bounds for GP-UCB and GP-TS.
result Inexact BO algorithms can achieve sublinear cumulative regret under appropriate inaccuracy conditions.
A2MT learns agents to select which modalities to acquire at test time.
problem Learning agents to select modalities for multimodal temporal data acquisition.
method Perceiver IO architecture for active acquisition of multimodal temporal data.
result Agents successfully learn cost-reactive acquisition behavior on real-world datasets.
A simple method improves batch active learning without high compute.
problem Efficient batch active learning in machine learning.
method Adapting standard single-point acquisition strategies to batch.
result Simple strategy performs as well as advanced batch methods.
This paper explores optimising acquisition functions in Bayesian optimisation.
problem Optimising acquisition functions in Bayesian optimisation is challenging due to their non-convex nature.
method The authors derive compositional forms for acquisition functions and use them to recast maximisation as a compositional optimisation problem.
result The compositional approach to maximising acquisition functions shows empirical advantages across various tasks.
Paper proposes a method to aggregate customer engagement data for better ranking of e-commerce results.
problem Cold start problem and under-representation of new or under-impressed products in e-commerce search results.
method Aggregates customer engagements within a day for the same query as input training data for machine learning models.
result Training models on aggregated data leads to better ranking of new and under-impressed products.
This paper optimizes Bayesian acquisition functions in Gaussian Processes for better optimization.
problem Improving the efficiency of Bayesian optimization methods.
method Analysis of different acquisition functions and optimizers for optimizing Bayesian acquisition functions.
result Optimization of acquisition functions leads to faster and more accurate sampling points.
Study uses Open Banking data to estimate customer value, showing potential 21% increase.
problem Limited CLV estimation using single-entity data.
method Introduces PCLV framework using Open Banking data for comprehensive customer value estimation.
result Open Banking data can estimate PCLV per competitor, showing a 21.06% increase over Actual CLV.
In order to better engage with customers, retailers rely on extensive customer and product databases which allows them to better understand customer behaviour and purchasing patterns. This has long been a challenging task as customer modelling is a multi-faceted, noisy and time-dependent problem. The most common way to…
Market research is generally performed by surveying a representative sample of customers with questions that includes contexts such as psycho-graphics, demographics, attitude and product preferences. Survey responses are used to segment the customers into various groups that are useful for targeted marketing and commun…
Optimizes information acquisition to reduce estimation risk and maximize utility.
problem Estimation risk in investor decision-making.
method Derives closed-form value functions using CARA and CRRA utility functions, employs variational methods to explore optimal acquisition.
result Acquiring information earlier is more valuable in reducing estimation risk and achieving higher utility.
The paper uses RFM and clustering to segment bank customers.
problem Challenges in customer retention and profitable segmentation in banking.
method RFM technique and clustering algorithms applied to real data.
result Successful customer segmentation improves conversion rates.
The study improves CLV predictions in retail banking with machine learning.
problem Estimating customer lifetime value in retail banking is challenging.
method Developed a novel framework for CLV predictions over arbitrary time horizons.
result 43% improvement in out-of-time CLV prediction error.
Optimizes data acquisition in high-dimensional Bayesian optimization.
problem Suboptimal data acquisition in high-dimensional Bayesian optimization tasks.
method Utility-calibrated variational inference to align approximations with BO goals.
result Optimal data acquisition decisions under a limited computational budget.
Efficiently reduces computational burden of rollout acquisition functions in Bayesian optimization.
problem Expensive computation of rollout acquisition functions in Bayesian optimization.
method Combines quasi-Monte Carlo, common random numbers, and control variates to reduce computational burden. Formulates a policy-search approach to eliminate the need to optimize the rollout acquisition function.
result Significant reduction in computational burden of rollout acquisition functions.
NM-PPG optimizes adaptive feature acquisition in POMDPs for better predictions.
problem Optimizing adaptive feature acquisition in prediction problems with costly features.
method Non-myopic pathwise policy gradients (NM-PPG) with continuous relaxation and straight-through rollout.
result NM-PPG outperforms state-of-the-art AFA methods on synthetic and real-world datasets.
In the recent years money laundering schemes have grown in complexity and speed of realization, affecting financial institutions and millions of customers globally. Strengthened privacy policies, along with in-country regulations, make it hard for banks to inner- and cross-share, and report suspicious activities for th…
Boundary effects inflate variance in Gaussian processes, leading to acquisition bias.
problem Boundary-induced acquisition bias in Gaussian processes.
method Traced root cause to geometric mechanism of kernel truncation at domain boundaries.
result Boundary effects create distortion that worsens with dimensionality, affecting acquisition behavior.
Study clusters bank customers using LSTM and DTW.
problem Efficiently segmenting bank customers for targeted offers.
method Encoder-decoder LSTM network and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW).
result Hybrid method yields more accurate clusters.
Study compares classification techniques to predict customer churn in banking.
problem Predicting customer churn in banking industry.
method Comparison of six supervised classification techniques (ANN and random forest) on 10000 European bank customers.
result ANN structure with five nodes in a single hidden layer is the best performing classifier.
Auto dealerships receive thousands of calls daily from customers who are interested in sales, service, vendors and jobseekers. With so many calls, it is very important for auto dealers to understand the intent of these calls to provide positive customer experiences that ensure customer satisfaction, deep customer engag…
Unified framework connects EI and information-theoretic acquisition functions.
problem Distinguish between Expected Improvement and information-theoretic acquisition functions.
method Introduces Variational Entropy Search (VES) to unify EI and information-theoretic approaches.
result EI can be seen as a variational inference approximation of Max-value Entropy Search (MES).
Proposes a new acquisition function for batched Bayesian optimization.
problem Intractability of acquisition functions for batched Bayesian optimization.
method Statistical physics inspired acquisition function for Gaussian processes.
result Demonstrates competitive performance on various problems.
It is of high interest for a company to identify customers expected to bring the largest profit in the upcoming period. Knowing as much as possible about each customer is crucial for such predictions. However, their demographic data, preferences, and other information that might be useful for building loyalty programs …
Dynamic acquisition of features improves predictions with limited data.
problem Limited or uncertain data requires additional relevant information for accurate assessments.
method Proposes models that dynamically acquire new features using conditional mutual information and arbitrary conditional flow.
result Demonstrates superior performance over baselines in multiple settings.
Silent abandonment reduces contact center efficiency by 5%-15%.
problem Measuring customer abandonment and patience in text-based contact centers is challenging due to uncertainty.
method Developed methodologies to identify silent-abandonment customers and estimate customer patience using text analysis and queueing models.
result Silent abandonment accounts for 30%-67% of customer abandonments and reduces system efficiency by 5%-15%.
New acquisition function improves batch Bayesian active learning.
problem BatchBALD conflates epistemic and aleatoric uncertainty, leading to suboptimal performance.
method Focus on predictive probabilities to separate epistemic uncertainty, leading to better performance and faster evaluation.
result The new acquisition function performs better and allows for larger batches.
DALC customizes LSTM models for detectors in large-scale traffic networks.
problem Fine-grained traffic prediction for large-scale transportation networks.
method Formulated as a finite Markov decision process, introduced ALC algorithm for automatic customization, and developed DALC for distributed customization.
result DALC provides higher prediction accuracy than Apache Spark MLlib approaches.
This paper optimizes sampling policies for Bayesian optimization to improve exploration and exploitation.
problem Improving the balance between exploration and exploitation in Bayesian optimization.
method Developed efficient methods to estimate and optimize non-myopic acquisition functions using rollout policies and stochastic gradient optimization.
result Efficient optimization of sampling policies leads to better performance in Bayesian optimization.
We consider the problem of active feature acquisition, where we sequentially select the subset of features in order to achieve the maximum prediction performance in the most cost-effective way. In this work, we formulate this active feature acquisition problem as a reinforcement learning problem, and provide a novel fr…