New AI assistant for power grid operators simplifies complex decision-making.
problem Complexity and uncertainty in power grid operations.
method Unified human-machine interface and AI integration.
result Development of a new assistant framework for power grid operators.
A model for human-machine decision-making with private info and opacity.
problem Optimizing decisions in a human-machine system with private info and opacity.
method Formulated as a two-player learning problem, proved lower and upper bounds on optimality.
result Simple coordination strategy is nearly minimax optimal, efficient learning possible under certain assumptions.
The emerging paradigm of Human-Machine Inference Networks (HuMaINs) combines complementary cognitive strengths of humans and machines in an intelligent manner to tackle various inference tasks and achieves higher performance than either humans or machines by themselves. While inference performance optimization techniqu…
When might human input help (or not) when assessing risk in fairness domains? Dressel and Farid (2018) asked Mechanical Turk workers to evaluate a subset of defendants in the ProPublica COMPAS data for risk of recidivism, and concluded that COMPAS predictions were no more accurate or fair than predictions made by human…
Study human-machine interaction with private info using offline RL.
problem Confounding bias and distributional mismatch in offline RL for human-guided interaction.
method Developed a novel identification result and OPE method to address confounding bias, and used pessimism to tackle distributional mismatch.
result Policy pair converges to optimal one at satisfactory rate under mild assumptions.
Study on predictable forward processes in trading without frequent evaluations.
problem Trading performance evaluation times not matching trading times.
method Solving a linear functional equation to construct predictable forward processes.
result Predictable forward processes are inherently myopic and optimal strategies do not use future information.
An assistant learns to mediate decisions between humans and experts, balancing risk and learning.
problem Learning to mediate decisions between imperfect humans and expert knowledge.
method Formalizes online decision mediation, proposes a policy to balance immediate loss and future generalization.
result Consistent gains over benchmarks in decision-making performance.
We study the problem of designing AI agents that can robustly cooperate with people in human-machine partnerships. Our work is inspired by real-life scenarios in which an AI agent, e.g., a virtual assistant, has to cooperate with new users after its deployment. We model this problem via a parametric MDP framework where…
MCAL reduces labeling costs by 6x for auto-labeling data sets.
problem Expensive human annotation for ground-truth data sets.
method Iterative approach that trains a classifier to auto-label part of the data set, determining which samples to label using humans and which to label using the classifier at each step.
result 6x lower overall cost compared to human labeling the entire data set, always cheaper than competing strategies.
Framework ensures alignment between humans and machines in LLMs.
problem Human-machine misalignment in LLMs scoring mechanisms.
method Lightweight calibration framework for blackbox models.
result Provably guarantees alignment between humans and machines.
Interfacing a kinetic action of a person to an action of a machine system is an important research topic in many application areas. One of the key factors for intimate human-machine interaction is the ability of the control algorithm to detect and classify different user commands with shortest possible latency, thus ma…
Develops methods for cooperative Bayesian inference.
problem Cooperation between learning agents.
method Sequential Bayesian inference approaches.
result Theoretical foundation for cooperative inference.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intrinsically data-driven. It calls for the application of statistical concepts through human-machine collaboration during generation of data, development of algorithms, and evaluation of results. This paper discusses how such human-machine collaboration can be approached through the sta…
Speech emotion recognition is a challenging task and an important step towards more natural human-machine interaction. We show that pre-trained language models can be fine-tuned for text emotion recognition, achieving an accuracy of 69.5% on Task 4A of SemEval 2017, improving upon the previous state of the art by over …
Combines human and model predictions for improved accuracy.
problem Improving classification accuracy when both human and model predictions are imperfect.
method Uses confusion matrices and calibration to combine probabilistic model outputs with human class-level predictions.
result Human-model combinations consistently outperform either alone, with accuracy gains even with limited human input.
This review explores causal decision-making to improve decision quality.
problem Effective decision-making requires understanding causal relationships.
method Causal structure learning, causal effect learning, and causal policy learning.
result Challenges in causal decision-making are identified and recent advances are discussed.
As machine learning systems move from computer-science laboratories into the open world, their accountability becomes a high priority problem. Accountability requires deep understanding of system behavior and its failures. Current evaluation methods such as single-score error metrics and confusion matrices provide aggr…
Autonomous systems can substantially enhance a human's efficiency and effectiveness in complex environments. Machines, however, are often unable to observe the preferences of the humans that they serve. Despite the fact that the human's and machine's objectives are aligned, asymmetric information, along with heterogene…
This paper develops a framework for efficient decision-making under time pressure.
problem Efficient decision-making under time pressure and subjective tradeoffs.
method Unified framework for evidence-based decision-making under time pressure.
result Ability to model and understand decision-making behavior under time constraints.
Study minimax-optimal rates for offline decision-making with function approximation.
problem Statistical complexity of offline decision-making with function approximation.
method Near minimax-optimal rates for stochastic contextual bandits and Markov decision processes, using pseudo-dimension and behavior policy.
result Established performance limits and new characterization of behavior policy.
Framework for robust decision making in changing environments with privacy constraints.
problem Interactive decision making in changing environments with constraints.
method Hybrid Decision Making with Structured Observations (hybrid DMSO) framework, local differentially private decision making, query-based learning, robust and smooth decision making.
result Strong connections and bounds derived for DEC, SQ dimension, local minimax complexity, learnability, and joint differential privacy.
Paper tackles risk-sensitive decision-making under uncertainty.
problem Risk-sensitive decision-making problem under uncertainty.
method Formulated as a stochastic control problem, delineated necessary optimality conditions.
result Illustrative examples from optimal betting and inventory management support the theory.
New active learning strategy improves decision-making accuracy.
problem Maximizing decision-making accuracy in sequential data acquisition.
method Introduces a novel active learning criterion that maximizes expected information gain on the posterior decision distribution.
result Improved performance in decision-making accuracy compared to existing alternatives.
The paper tackles individualized decision-making under unmeasured confounding, providing a novel minimax solution and a paradox.
problem Unmeasured confounding in causal inference leads to biased estimates and affects individualized decision-making.
method The authors establish a formal link between individualized decision-making under partial identification and classical decision theory, providing a minimax solution and a paradox.
result A novel minimax solution for individualized decision-making/policy assignment is provided, and an interesting paradox is drawn.
The Chain-of-Decision approach improves forecasting of financial professionals' trading decisions.
problem Challenges in forecasting professionals' behaviors, especially in trading decisions.
method Integrates an opinion-generator-in-the-loop to provide subjective analysis based on news items.
result Promising improvements in the proposed tasks' performance.
The study examines robust decision-making in volatile financial markets, finding action robustness is more impactful than uncertainty tolerance.
problem Sequential decision making in high-frequency markets under evolving uncertainty.
method Analyzes two dimensions of robustness: uncertainty tolerance and action robustness, using simulations and empirical evidence.
result Action robustness has a larger impact on profitability than uncertainty tolerance, and excessive robustness can reduce profitability in illiquid markets.
A new framework designs experiments for better decision-making.
problem Suboptimal experimental designs for downstream decision-making.
method Amortized decision-aware Bayesian Experimental Design (BED) with Transformer Neural Decision Process (TNDP).
result TNDP effectively designs experiments and facilitates accurate decision-making.
Decision making based on behavioral and neural observations of living systems has been extensively studied in brain science, psychology, and other disciplines. Decision-making mechanisms have also been experimentally implemented in physical processes, such as single photons and chaotic lasers. The findings of these exp…
We model human decision-making behaviors in a risk-taking task using inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) for the purposes of understanding real human decision making under risk. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work applying IRL to reveal the implicit reward function in human risk-taking decision making…
An online decision-making algorithm using stochastic gradient descent for big data.
problem Efficiently updating decision rules in online decision making with big data.
method Stochastic gradient descent for online updates, asymptotic normality of estimators.
result Asymptotic normality of parameter and value estimators, enabling statistical inference.
New algorithms for fast online decision making using neural networks and martingale posteriors.
problem Online sequential decision making under uncertainty.
method Martingale posterior neural networks for fast online learning and decision making.
result Achieves competitive performance-speed trade-offs in non-stationary contextual bandits and Bayesian optimization.
Post-processing predictors reduces calibration errors for decision-making.
problem Predictors with low calibration error for machine learning may have high error for decision-making.
method Post-processing with ε distance to calibration adds noise to make predictions differentially private.
result Post-processing achieves O(√ε) ECE and CDL, asymptotically optimal.
Improving cancer treatment decisions requires considering causal effects, not just model accuracy.
problem Cancer outcome prediction models may cause harm when used for treatment decisions.
method Explains the importance of considering causal effects in model validation and provides guidelines.
result Building and validating models that are useful for decision making requires considering causal effects.
Develops methods for finding counterfactual explanations in sequential decision making.
problem Finding counterfactual explanations for sequential decision making processes.
method Formal characterization of sequential actions and states using Markov decision processes and Gumbel-Max structural causal model. Introduces a polynomial time algorithm based on dynamic programming.
result Algorithm finds optimal counterfactual explanations for sequential decision making.
Bayesian CNN estimates uncertainty in COVID-19 detection.
problem Uncertainty in deep learning predictions for medical diagnosis.
method Drop-weight based Bayesian Convolutional Neural Networks (BCNN).
result Uncertainty correlates with prediction accuracy.
Paper tests Markov assumption in sequential decision making.
problem Testing the Markov assumption in sequential decision making.
method Forward-Backward Learning procedure to test MA without assuming parametric forms.
result The proposed test plays a crucial role in identifying optimal policies in complex decision processes.
Machine learning based decision making systems are increasingly affecting humans. An individual can suffer an undesirable outcome under such decision making systems (e.g. denied credit) irrespective of whether the decision is fair or accurate. Individual recourse pertains to the problem of providing an actionable set o…
Paper offers a fast convergence theory for offline decision making.
problem Offline decision making problems, including reinforcement learning and off-policy evaluation.
method Introduces a framework (DMOF) and algorithm (EDD) with a fast convergence guarantee.
result Demonstrates a fast convergence guarantee with a lower bound complement.
New bounds show complexity of adversarial decision making.
problem Understanding sample efficiency in adversarial decision making.
method New upper and lower bounds on Decision-Estimation Coefficient.
result Decision-Estimation Coefficient is necessary and sufficient for low regret in adversarial decision making.
Bayesian decision theory outlines a rigorous framework for making optimal decisions based on maximizing expected utility over a model posterior. However, practitioners often do not have access to the full posterior and resort to approximate inference strategies. In such cases, taking the eventual decision-making task i…
Improved model-free reinforcement learning with decision-estimation coefficient.
problem Interactive decision making, including structured bandits and reinforcement learning.
method Combining Estimation-to-Decisions with optimistic estimation to achieve better regret bounds.
result Regret bounds for model-free reinforcement learning with value function approximation.
New method learns decisions from collective preferences without individual covariates.
problem Making decisions online without individual covariates.
method Collaborative filtering, matrix completion bandit, ε-greedy policy, online gradient descent, inverse propensity weighting.
result Method outperforms benchmarks and reveals new discoveries.
Proposes a framework to quantify uncertainty in multi-step decision-making by LLMs.
problem Uncertainty quantification in multi-step decision-making scenarios of LLMs.
method A principled, information-theoretic framework decomposing uncertainty into internal and extrinsic components, and proposing UProp for efficient extrinsic uncertainty estimation.
result UProp significantly outperforms existing single-turn UQ baselines in multi-step decision-making benchmarks.
A new fairness metric for decision-making algorithms, conditioning on known fair variables.
problem Fairness issues in decision-making systems.
method Conditional fairness metric, Derivable Conditional Fairness Regularizer (DCFR), adversarial representation.
result Traditional fairness notations are special cases of the new conditional fairness notation.
The paper introduces a new algorithm for fair decision-making in outcome control tasks.
problem Fair and equitable automated decision-making in outcome control tasks.
method Causal analysis and optimization to ensure fairness in decision-making.
result Developed an algorithm for maximizing Y while ensuring causal fairness. Introduces principal fairness for fair decision-making.
problem Discrimination among similarly affected individuals.
method Uses principal stratification from causal inference.
result Explicitly accounts for decision impacts, not just protected attributes.
Dynamic probabilistic forecasts guide optimal decisions in uncertain processes.
problem Optimal decision making in processes influenced by uncertain random factors.
method Stochastic models for probabilistic forecast evolution, calibrated from ensemble forecasts.
result Optimal decision strategies determined using dynamic probabilistic forecasts.
Human irrationality can improve AI design, study shows.
problem Improving AI by learning from human decision-making biases.
method Developed a novel POMDP model to simulate human decision-making in contextual choice tasks.
result Reinforcement learners can exploit human irrationalities to make better decisions.