New algorithm for reward-free RL with linear function approximation, reducing sample complexity.
problem Efficiently learning optimal policies without prior reward information in complex environments.
method Developed an algorithm for reward-free RL in linear Markov decision processes, proving sample complexity bounds.
result Polynomial sample complexity in feature dimension and planning horizon, independent of states and actions.
Study reward-free RL in non-linear settings, improving efficiency and removing assumptions.
problem Improving sample efficiency in reward-free reinforcement learning for non-linear function approximation.
method Proposed RFOLIVE algorithm for minimal structural assumptions, analyzed hardness results for reward-free and reward-aware exploration.
result Statistical efficiency and hardness results under various structural assumptions, no need for reachability or explorability assumptions.
Maximizes Rényi entropy for efficient exploration in reward-free RL.
problem Challenges of exploration in reward-free reinforcement learning.
method Maximizes Rényi entropy over state-action space in exploration phase; uses batch RL for planning phase.
result Effective and sample-efficient exploration leading to superior policies.
A single policy suffices for near-optimal parallel exploration in RL.
problem Quantitative effects of parallel exploration in reward-free RL.
method Using a single policy to guide exploration across all agents.
result Near-linear speedup and near-minimax optimality for linear MDPs.
Reward-free RL in linear MDPs is as hard as reward-aware RL.
problem Reward-free RL in linear MDPs without access to the reward function during exploration.
method Developed a computationally efficient algorithm with sample complexity O ~ ( d 2 H 5 / ε 2 ) \widetilde{\mathcal{O}}(d^2 H^5/ε^2) O ( d 2 H 5 / ε 2 ) . result Achieved optimal d d d dependence in linear MDPs for reward-free RL, matching the reward-aware RL setting. Paper improves sample complexity for reward-free RL in low-rank MDPs.
problem Reward-free RL in low-rank MDPs with unknown representation and weights.
method Proposes a novel model-based algorithm RAFFLE with improved sample complexity.
result RAFFLE achieves ε ε ε -optimal policy and accurate system identification with significantly fewer samples. New RL method explores environments without rewards, achieving efficient policy generation.
problem Efficiently exploring unknown environments without predefined rewards.
method Optimistic value-iteration algorithm with kernel and neural function approximations.
result Achieves O ~ ( 1 / ε 2 ) \widetilde{\mathcal{O}}(1 /\varepsilon^2) O ( 1/ ε 2 ) sample complexity for generating policies or equilibria. New algorithm for RL with horizon-free reward-free exploration for linear MDPs.
problem Reward-free reinforcement learning with long planning horizons.
method Uncertainty-weighted value-targeted regression with exploration-driven pseudo-reward and moment estimator.
result Horizon-free sample complexity of O ( d 2 ε − 2 ) O(d^2\varepsilon^{-2}) O ( d 2 ε − 2 ) for finding an ε \varepsilon ε -optimal policy. Safe exploration in RF-RL doesn't increase sample complexity.
problem Achieving optimal policies with safety constraints in reward-free RL.
method Proposed SWEET framework for tabular and low-rank MDP settings, leveraging truncated value functions.
result Sample complexities match or outperform constraint-free counterparts, proving safety constraints have little impact.
Unified algorithm tackles various RL goals like reward-free and preference-based learning.
problem Unified approach to multiple RL learning goals.
method Decision-Estimation Coefficient (DEC) framework.
result Unified algorithm handles various learning goals with a single framework.
New RL algorithm reduces deployment cost for linear function approximations.
problem Efficiently deploying new policies in RL with unknown rewards.
method Proposes an algorithm that minimizes trajectories needed for identifying optimal policies.
result Achieves optimal deployment complexity and sample complexity.
New algorithm REFUEL shows multitask representation learning is more sample-efficient in RL.
problem Understanding the benefit of representation learning in reinforcement learning.
method Developed REFUEL algorithm for multitask low-rank RL, analyzing both upstream and downstream tasks.
result Multitask representation learning is provably more sample-efficient than individual task learning.
A new framework isolates exploration challenges in RL without explicit rewards.
problem Challenges in reinforcement learning, especially exploration.
method Reward-free RL framework, collecting trajectories without a reward function, then computing policies for various reward functions.
result Efficient algorithm that conducts exploration and computes near-optimal policies for multiple reward functions.
This work analyzes the value of future reward information in RL.
problem Analyzing the impact of knowing future rewards in reinforcement learning.
method Competitive analysis and worst-case reward distribution.
result Exact ratios between standard RL agents and those with future-reward lookahead.
New approach for reward-free exploration reduces estimation error.
problem Reward-free exploration in reinforcement learning.
method Adaptive approach reducing MDP estimation error.
result Reward-free UCRL algorithm improves sample complexity.
This study optimizes offline reinforcement learning methods for various tasks without rewards.
problem Optimizing offline reinforcement learning for multiple tasks without rewards.
method Designing a new model-based approach with singleton absorbing MDPs to achieve optimal convergence rates.
result Achieved optimal convergence rates for offline reinforcement learning in various settings.
Paper introduces efficient online sub-sampling for RL with function approximation, reducing policy updates.
problem Efficiently managing computation complexity in RL with general function approximation.
method Online sub-sampling framework that measures information gain and guides exploration.
result Policy updates reduced to ∝ poly log ( K ) \propto\operatorname{poly}\log(K) ∝ poly log ( K ) times for near-optimal regret. New algorithm finds optimal policies without knowing reward functions.
problem Reward-agnostic exploration in reinforcement learning.
method Designs an algorithm that explores without reward information, achieving minimax optimality.
result Achieves provable minimax optimality in finding optimal policies for multiple reward functions.
This work tackles representation learning for RL in low-rank MDPs, improving sample efficiency.
problem How to learn a compact representation for RL in low-rank MDPs efficiently.
method Proposes REP-UCB for online RL and develops an algorithm for offline RL under partial coverage.
result Significantly improved sample complexity for online RL and competitive performance for offline RL.
New complexity measure helps in agnostic reinforcement learning with or without access to MDP dynamics.
problem Understanding the number of rounds needed to learn an ε-suboptimal policy in unknown MDPs.
method Introducing spanning capacity as a new complexity measure and developing POPLER algorithm.
result There is a separation between generative and online access models for agnostic learnability.
New spectral methods improve matrix estimation in RL with low-rank structure.
problem Estimating matrices with low-rank structure in reinforcement learning.
method Spectral-based matrix estimation approaches.
result Spectral methods efficiently recover singular subspaces and minimize entry-wise error.
New RL approach learns dynamic VCG mechanisms in unknown MDP environments.
problem Learning dynamic VCG mechanisms in unknown MDP environments.
method Reward-free online RL for exploration, combined with function approximation.
result Regret bound of O ~ ( T 2 / 3 ) \tilde{\mathcal{O}}(T^{2/3}) O ~ ( T 2/3 ) for dynamic VCG mechanism learning. We decode latent states in Block MDPs and learn near-optimal policies.
problem Model estimation and reward-free learning in Block MDPs.
method Information-theoretical lower bound and efficient model estimation algorithm.
result Our algorithm approaches the information-theoretical limit for latent state decoding and converges to optimal policies.
New RL algorithm reduces policy switching cost to loglog(T) with similar regret.
problem Low policy switching cost in real-life RL applications.
method Stage-wise exploration and adaptive policy elimination.
result Regret of O ( H S A log log T ) O(HSA \log\log T) O ( H S A log log T ) with O ( H S A log log T ) O(HSA \log\log T) O ( H S A log log T ) switching cost. Paper proposes a policy-search algorithm to learn entropy-maximizing exploration policies in reward-free environments.
problem Reward-free learning in high-dimensional, continuous-control domains.
method Maximum Entropy POLicy optimization (MEPOL) algorithm that maximizes a non-parametric state entropy estimate.
result MEPOL learns a maximum-entropy exploration policy that facilitates learning various reward-based tasks.
New algorithm learns policies without explicit rewards for MDPs.
problem Learning policies for MDPs without explicit rewards.
method UCRL-RFE algorithm with linear function approximation.
result UCRL-RFE achieves optimal policy with minimal exploration samples.
Improved exploration methods for reinforcement learning with reduced sample complexity.
problem Challenges in reinforcement learning exploration in unknown environments.
method Proposed game-theoretic and trajectory entropy algorithms with improved sample complexity.
result Established statistical advantage of entropy-regularized MDPs for exploration and reduced sample complexity.
OMLE combines optimism and MLE for efficient sequential decision making.
problem Efficiently solving sequential decision making problems, especially in partially observable settings.
method Combines optimism for exploration and maximum likelihood estimation for model learning.
result OMLE learns near-optimal policies for a wide range of sequential decision making problems.
Survey of reinforcement learning guarantees with data constraints.
problem Guaranteeing near-optimal policies with limited data in reinforcement learning.
method Coverage-Structure-Objective (CSO) framework to decompose sample complexity results.
result Progress on PAC guarantees for reinforcement learning, covering various models and settings.
New RLHF algorithm identifies optimal policies from human feedback without explicit reward inference.
problem Training large language models with human feedback without reward inference.
method Model-free RLHF algorithm B S A D \mathsf{BSAD} BSAD that identifies optimal policies directly from human preference. result Provable, instance-dependent sample complexity i l d e O ( c M S A 3 H 3 M log 1 δ ) ilde{\mathcal{O}}(c_{\mathcal{M}}SA^3H^3M\log\frac{1}δ) i l d e O ( c M S A 3 H 3 M log δ 1 ) . New algorithm learns optimal policies without explicit rewards.
problem Learning optimal policies without explicit rewards.
method Developed a computationally tractable algorithm for reward-free navigation using linear value iteration.
result PAC guarantees on learning near optimal value functions and policies.
Efficient RL in PRMs with improved regret bound.
problem Reinforcement learning in probabilistic reward machines with non-Markovian rewards.
method Design of an algorithm with a new regret bound of O ~ ( H O A T + H 2 O 2 A 3 / 2 + H T ) \widetilde{O}(\sqrt{HOAT} + H^2O^2A^{3/2} + H\sqrt{T}) O ( H O A T + H 2 O 2 A 3/2 + H T ) . result Improved regret bound over existing methods, matching lower bound up to a logarithmic factor.
Observer learns optimal policy from learner's actions without rewards.
problem Learning optimal policy from non-rewarded actions of a non-stationary learner.
method Two-Phase Suffix Imitation framework.
result Observer achieves convergence rate of O ~ ( 1 / N ) \tilde O(1/\sqrt{N}) O ~ ( 1/ N ) . Hybrid RL algorithms improve offline and online RL in linear MDPs.
problem Improving RL performance without single-policy concentrability.
method Developed computationally efficient algorithms for PAC and regret-minimizing RL in linear MDPs.
result Achieved sharper error or regret bounds for linear MDPs.
This work explores representation complexity in RL paradigms, revealing model-based RL as the easiest task.
problem Investigating the representation complexity gap among model-based, policy-based, and value-based RL.
method Demonstrated through analysis of Markov decision processes (MDPs) and introduced new classes of MDPs.
result Representation complexity hierarchy: model-based RL > policy-based RL > value-based RL.
New method defends RL agents from poisoning attacks without MDP knowledge.
problem Poisoning attacks on RL systems can cause learning failures.
method Generic poisoning framework for online RL, Vulnerability-Aware Adversarial Critic Poison (VA2C-P).
result Successfully prevents RL agents from learning good policies or converging to target policies.
Reincarnating RL reuses prior work to accelerate RL progress.
problem Efficiency and accessibility in reinforcement learning for large-scale applications.
method Transfer of learned policies between RL agents or design iterations, focusing on value-based RL.
result Demonstrated gains in performance over tabula rasa RL on various tasks.
Paper shows RLHF can be solved similarly to standard RL.
problem Difficulty of RLHF compared to standard RL.
method Reduction to reward-based RL techniques.
result RLHF can be solved using existing algorithms for reward-based RL.
RL tackles decision making in unknown environments, focusing on efficiency and efficacy.
problem Efficiency and efficacy in RL algorithms for sample-starved situations.
method Markov Decision Processes, model-based and value-based approaches, policy optimization.
result Enhanced understanding and improvements in sample and computational efficacies of RL algorithms.
Catalyst.RL accelerates RL research with efficient training.
problem Efficient reinforcement learning training in complex environments.
method Open-source PyTorch framework with distributed training and RL algorithms.
result Catalyst.RL achieved 2nd place in a computationally expensive RL challenge.
Study shows effectiveness of offline RL in online RL tasks.
problem Improving online RL efficiency using offline RL data.
method Formalized framework for incorporating offline RL as online RL subroutines, introducing techniques to enhance effectiveness.
result Effectiveness of the framework depends on task nature, techniques greatly enhance effectiveness, and existing methods are ineffective.
MOReL learns offline RL policies using pessimistic MDPs.
problem Offline RL's data efficiency and velocity.
method Two-step process: learn P-MDP and near-optimal policy in it.
result MOReL is minimax optimal and matches state-of-the-art results.
RL research overhypes potential but lacks deployable solutions.
problem Current RL research overhypes potential and lacks deployable solutions.
method Identifies and critiques current RL research practices.
result Current RL research direction is unlikely to lead to practical, economically viable solutions.
RL applied to finance tasks, highlighting challenges and future directions.
problem Decision-making tasks in finance using RL.
method Meta-analysis of RL applications, identifying challenges and proposing future directions.
result Challenges in RL performance and future research directions.
Reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms allow agents to learn skills and strategies to perform complex tasks without detailed instructions or expensive labelled training examples. That is, RL agents can learn, as we learn. Given the importance of learning in our intelligence, RL has been thought to be one of key compone…
A simple approach to offline RL without additional complexity.
problem Learning from a fixed dataset of actions with value estimation errors.
method Adding a behavior cloning term to the policy update of an online RL algorithm and normalizing the data.
result Matches the performance of state-of-the-art offline RL algorithms with minimal changes.
MiniHack simplifies creation of complex RL environments.
problem Limited availability of challenging RL benchmarks.
method Develops a sandbox framework for easy RL environment design.
result MiniHack enables rapid creation of diverse RL testbeds.
Generative flow networks use RL to learn probabilistic models efficiently.
problem Training generative models with RL for compositional discrete objects.
method Reformulate GFlowNet training as entropy-regularized RL with specific reward and regularizer.
result Entropy-regularized RL can be competitive with established GFlowNet training methods.