This article introduces a framework to estimate the value of evidence-based decision making.
problem Lack of empirical tools to assess the value of evidence-based decision making and optimize statistical precision.
method Empirical framework using parametric and nonparametric empirical Bayes methods.
result The value of statistical evidence depends on how organizations translate it into policy decisions.
In stochastic decision problems, one often wants to estimate the underlying probability measure statistically, and then to use this estimate as a basis for decisions. We shall consider how the uncertainty in this estimation can be explicitly and consistently incorporated in the valuation of decisions, using the theory …
New complexity measure for interactive learning reduces regret to near-optimal levels.
problem Challenges in sample-efficient, adaptive learning algorithms for interactive decision making.
method Introduces the Decision-Estimation Coefficient and the Estimation-to-Decisions (E2D) principle.
result Unified algorithm design principle E2D achieves optimal sample-efficient learning.
The paper tackles robust policy learning in MDPs using statistical methods.
problem Offline data-driven sequential decision making in MDPs.
method Evaluates policies using average rewards centered at policy-induced stationary distributions. Developed a statistically efficient method for estimating robust optimal policies.
result Established a rate-optimal regret bound up to a logarithmic factor.
The paper tackles uncertainty in multi-objective decision-making.
problem Learning Pareto-efficient decisions with statistical confidence in uncertain outcomes.
method Adapting Pareto-efficient decisions to uncertainty, using conformal prediction.
result Statistical guarantees for efficient decisions in uncertain contexts.
Paper uses stats to predict treatment choice based on illness probability.
problem Improving treatment decision-making in personalized medicine.
method Statistical decision theory with maximum regret evaluation.
result Estimates illness probability for better treatment choice.
Lecture notes on reinforcement learning using statistical methods.
problem Addressing the exploration-exploitation dilemma in decision making.
method Frequentist and Bayesian approaches, function approximation, neural networks.
result Unified framework for decision making and estimation.
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.
Paper uses AI to improve medical diagnosis accuracy.
problem Improving accuracy of medical diagnoses.
method Heuristic frequentist and Bayesian approaches applied to a nationwide dataset.
result Algorithm outperforms human doctors in detecting abnormal births.
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.
LLMs fail to match statistical ground truth despite stable run-to-run performance.
problem LLMs lack validation against statistical ground truth in automated scientific workflows.
method Introduced a behavioral evaluation framework for LLMs, separating four decision-making dimensions.
result LLMs can exhibit near-perfect stability but diverge from statistical ground truth.
Empirical model tackles decision problems without specifying states of the world.
problem Decision problems under uncertainty with inaccessible states of the world.
method Empirical approach using observed act--consequence pairs as model primitives.
result Optimality in empirical decision problems addressed using protocol-based empirical choice functions.
The paper corrects bias in fluid approximation for better decision-making in stochastic optimization.
problem Bias introduced by using mean values in fluid approximation leads to suboptimal decisions.
method Identifying a decision-corrected point estimate that yields optimal decisions.
result A corrected point estimate exists under certain conditions and can be computed algorithmically.
New online method for statistical inference with matrix context in decision-making.
problem Statistical inference in decision-making with matrix context.
method Proposes a fully online procedure to conduct statistical inference with adaptive data collection, handling low-rank structure.
result Establishes asymptotic normality of debiased estimators and proves validity of confidence intervals.
The paper provides a statistical decision-theoretical derivation of the Two-Stage approach for parameter estimation.
problem Theoretical justification for the Two-Stage approach in situations where likelihood is difficult to evaluate.
method Statistical decision-theoretical derivation leading to Bayesian and Minimax estimators.
result The Two-Stage approach is justified theoretically and applied to independent and identically distributed samples.
Simplifies complex RL policies by ranking important decisions.
problem Complexity in RL policies makes them hard to analyze and interpret.
method Statistical fault localisation to rank states and prune unimportant decisions.
result Pruned policies can perform similarly to original policies, improving interpretability.
New method for online statistical inference in contextual bandits using SGD.
problem Online decision-making in contextual bandits with statistical inference.
method Weighted stochastic gradient descent for adaptive data collection.
result Asymptotic normality of the parameter estimator with improved efficiency.
The paper develops a method to learn robust decision policies from observational data, reducing high-cost outcomes.
problem Learning safe decision policies from observational data with high-risk outcomes.
method Develops a method to learn policies that reduce high-cost outcomes, valid under finite samples and uneven feature overlap.
result Validates the method with real and synthetic data, providing statistical bounds on decision costs.
Study on multi-agent decision making complexity, showing sample efficiency gaps.
problem Understanding sample efficiency in multi-agent decision making.
method General framework for interactive decision making, focusing on equilibrium computation.
result No 'reasonable' complexity measure can close gaps between single and multiple agents.
The study provides theoretical guarantees for the statistical performance of optimal decision trees.
problem Theoretical limits on the statistical performance of globally optimal decision trees.
method Sharp oracle inequalities and uniform concentration framework based on Rademacher complexity.
result Derivation of minimax optimal rates for piecewise sparse heterogeneous anisotropic Besov space.
Optimizes portfolio construction using Bayesian methods and variational techniques.
problem Balancing reward and risk in portfolio construction.
method Bayesian decision-theoretic formulation, saddle-point problem, variational Bayes relaxation, efficient algorithm, provable convergence.
result Proves statistical consistency of proposed decision with optimal Bayesian decision.
A new nonparametric test measures dependence between variables using decision trees.
problem Measuring statistical dependence between two variables robustly and efficiently.
method An ensemble of decision trees discriminates between observed and permuted samples without generating the latter.
result The method effectively detects complex relationships from noisy data.
New research shows machine-assisted decisions can still be unfair even when the algorithm is fair.
problem Ensuring fairness in decisions made with machine-assisted human input.
method Formal model and lab experiment to analyze how machine predictions affect human decisions.
result Excluding information about protected groups from machine predictions can increase disparities.
Unified framework for Bayesian and Frequentist statistics.
problem Embedding Bayesian statistics within a broader decision-making framework.
method Game theory and statistical analysis.
result Statistical games unify Bayesian and Frequentist statistics.
Statistical model checking for PCTL on MDPs using reinforcement learning.
problem Model checking PCTL specifications on MDPs with statistical methods.
method Reinforcement learning for policy search, statistical model checking with UCB-based Q-learning.
result Provably guaranteed statistical model checking method for PCTL specifications on MDPs.
Decision trees improve performance in various fields.
problem Improving performance in machine learning and data mining.
method Introduce tree-based models and training techniques.
result Highlight probabilistic characteristics and practical benefits.
This paper introduces DCE for better counterfactual explanations using optimal transport.
problem Lack of nuanced distributional characteristics in existing counterfactual explanations.
method Formulates a chance-constrained optimization problem using optimal transport to derive counterfactual distributions.
result DCE provides deeper insights into decision-making models by aligning counterfactual distributions with factual ones.
DRO optimizes decisions under uncertain distributions, considering worst-case scenarios.
problem Optimizing decisions when the distribution of uncertainties is itself uncertain.
method Defines ambiguity sets and seeks decisions optimal under the worst-case distribution.
result DRO models can be connected to regularization techniques and machine learning.
Paper addresses regret minimization and inference in high-dimensional online decision-making.
problem Regret minimization and statistical inference in high-dimensional online decision-making.
method Integrates ε-greedy bandit algorithm with hard thresholding for sparse bandit parameters and debiasing method for inference.
result Achieves either O(T1/2) regret or O(T1/2)-consistent inference, with trade-off between exploration and exploitation. Capacity control, the bias/variance dilemma, and learning unknown functions from data, are all concerned with identifying effective and consistent fits of unknown geometric loci to random data points. A geometric locus is a curve or surface formed by points, all of which possess some uniform property. A geometric locus…
Study proposes a statistical test for Vision Transformer's attention mechanisms.
problem ViT's attention mechanisms may focus on irrelevant regions, leading to unreliable evidence.
method Selective inference framework to quantify statistical significance of attentions as p-values.
result Proposed method enables reliable quantification of false positive detection probability of attentions.
This paper introduces a Bayesian framework for optimizing online experiments to maximize profit.
problem Statistical flaws and reliance on proxy metrics in A/B tests compromise their effectiveness.
method Hierarchical Bayesian model for estimating conversion probability and monetary value, decision-theoretic stopping rule.
result The framework ensures experiments conclude when no variant offers a significant profit improvement, conserving resources.
User authentication and intrusion detection differ from standard classification problems in that while we have data generated from legitimate users, impostor or intrusion data is scarce or non-existent. We review existing techniques for dealing with this problem and propose a novel alternative based on a principled sta…
This review examines bandit problems in AI using statistical methods.
problem Sequential decision-making under uncertainty in AI environments.
method Foundational models, concentration inequalities, minimax regret bounds, frequentist and Bayesian algorithms, K-armed contextual bandits, SCAB, functional data analysis.
result Exploration-exploitation trade-offs and regret analyses in various bandit problems.
Unified framework for fair decision-making across diverse groups.
problem Statistical brittleness in fairness testing for small subgroups.
method Size-adaptive hypothesis testing framework.
result Validated approach for interpretable, statistically rigorous decisions.
The article presents a translation of some widespread financial terminology into the language of decision theory. For instance, financial leverage can be regarded as an object of choice or a decision. We show how the optics of decision theory allows perceiving the recently introduced metrics of see-through-leverage, wh…
The paper establishes a nearly-sharp statistical threshold for efficient learning in Latent MDPs with separated components.
problem Learning Latent Markov Decision Processes (LMDPs) with separated components.
method The paper considers various notions of separation and establishes a nearly-sharp statistical threshold for efficient learning. It also presents a quasi-polynomial algorithm with time complexity scaling in terms of the statistical threshold under a weaker assumption of separability under the optimal policy, and a near-matching time complexity lower bound under the exponential time hypothesis.
result Establishes a nearly-sharp statistical threshold for efficient learning in Latent MDPs with separated components.
This paper solves the open problem of computing Bayes optimal prediction for decision trees using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method.
problem Computing the Bayes optimal prediction for decision trees is infeasible due to an infeasible summation over all division patterns of a feature space.
method Solved the open problem using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method with adaptively tuned step size.
result Computed the Bayes optimal prediction for decision trees using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method.
Gaussian graphical model is a graphical representation of the dependence structure for a Gaussian random vector. It is recognized as a powerful tool in different applied fields such as bioinformatics, error-control codes, speech language, information retrieval and others. Gaussian graphical model selection is a statist…
Guarantees for third-person imitation learning from offline data.
problem Improving generalizability in imitation learning.
method Problem-dependent statistical learning guarantees for third-person imitation from offline observation.
result Strong performance guarantees for transferred policies in the offline setting.
From doctors diagnosing patients to judges setting bail, experts often base their decisions on experience and intuition rather than on statistical models. While understandable, relying on intuition over models has often been found to result in inferior outcomes. Here we present a new method, select-regress-and-round, f…
Study shows how AI model can improve decision-making with missing data.
problem Sequential decision-making with missing covariates.
method Introduced model elasticity to quantify imputation discrepancy; used statistical learning and regression for calibration.
result Calibrating pre-trained models can significantly reduce regret in decision-making.
The paper addresses statistical estimation in MDPs with confounders using instrumental variables.
problem Statistical estimation of value functions in MDPs with unobservable confounders.
method Two-stage estimator based on instrumental variables for confounded linear MDPs.
result Established statistical properties of the two-stage estimator, including error bounds and asymptotic normality.
GAIF enhances online multiple testing with feedback, improving statistical power.
problem Sequential online multiple testing with delayed feedback.
method GAIF framework using dynamic threshold adjustment and feedback-driven model selection.
result Improves statistical power through feedback-driven model selection.
Paper proposes a new dynamic pricing method with always-valid online statistical learning.
problem Designing dynamic pricing policies that adapt to online uncertainty and maintain validity.
method Regularized online statistical learning with theoretical guarantees and three major advantages.
result Proposed OORMLP pricing policy secures logarithmic regret in decision horizon.
The study assesses the relative value of prediction in algorithmic decision making.
problem Improving welfare through better predictions versus other policy levers.
method Theoretical analysis of statistical models.
result Simple conditions determining the relative value of prediction.
The paper tackles optimal policy learning with asymmetric counterfactual utilities in healthcare decisions.
problem Learning optimal policies from observed data with asymmetric counterfactual utilities.
method The approach involves identifying and minimizing the maximum expected utility loss using statistical decision theory and solving intermediate classification problems.
result One can learn minimax loss decision rules from observed data.
Develops a statistical learning framework for personalized asset allocation.
problem Continuous-action decision-making with a large number of characteristics.
method Discretization approach with generalized penalties for penalized regression.
result Improves financial well-being with individualized optimal asset allocation.