Learning Submodular Sequencing from Samples

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yuan, Jing, Tang, Shaojie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Yuan, Jing
Tang, Shaojie
author_facet Yuan, Jing
Tang, Shaojie
contents This paper addresses the problem of sequential submodular maximization: selecting and ranking items in a sequence to optimize some composite submodular function. In contrast to most of the previous works, which assume access to the utility function, we assume that we are given only a set of samples. Each sample includes a random sequence of items and its associated utility. We present an algorithm that, given polynomially many samples drawn from a two-stage uniform distribution, achieves an approximation ratio dependent on the curvature of individual submodular functions. Our results apply in a wide variety of real-world scenarios, such as ranking products in online retail platforms, where complete knowledge of the utility function is often impossible to obtain. Our algorithm gives an empirically useful solution in such contexts, thus proving that limited data can be of great use in sequencing tasks. From a technical perspective, our results extend prior work on ``optimization from samples'' by generalizing from optimizing a set function to a sequence-dependent function.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_05265
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Learning Submodular Sequencing from Samples
Yuan, Jing
Tang, Shaojie
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
This paper addresses the problem of sequential submodular maximization: selecting and ranking items in a sequence to optimize some composite submodular function. In contrast to most of the previous works, which assume access to the utility function, we assume that we are given only a set of samples. Each sample includes a random sequence of items and its associated utility. We present an algorithm that, given polynomially many samples drawn from a two-stage uniform distribution, achieves an approximation ratio dependent on the curvature of individual submodular functions. Our results apply in a wide variety of real-world scenarios, such as ranking products in online retail platforms, where complete knowledge of the utility function is often impossible to obtain. Our algorithm gives an empirically useful solution in such contexts, thus proving that limited data can be of great use in sequencing tasks. From a technical perspective, our results extend prior work on ``optimization from samples'' by generalizing from optimizing a set function to a sequence-dependent function.
title Learning Submodular Sequencing from Samples
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.05265