Planning and Learning in Average Risk-aware MDPs

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Wang, Weikai, Delage, Erick
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Wang, Weikai
Delage, Erick
author_facet Wang, Weikai
Delage, Erick
contents For continuing tasks, average cost Markov decision processes have well-documented value and can be solved using efficient algorithms. However, it explicitly assumes that the agent is risk-neutral. In this work, we extend risk-neutral algorithms to accommodate the more general class of dynamic risk measures. Specifically, we propose a relative value iteration (RVI) algorithm for planning and design two model-free Q-learning algorithms, namely a generic algorithm based on the multi-level Monte Carlo (MLMC) method, and an off-policy algorithm dedicated to utility-based shortfall risk measures. Both the RVI and MLMC-based Q-learning algorithms are proven to converge to optimality. Numerical experiments validate our analysis, confirm empirically the convergence of the off-policy algorithm, and demonstrate that our approach enables the identification of policies that are finely tuned to the intricate risk-awareness of the agent that they serve.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_17629
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Planning and Learning in Average Risk-aware MDPs
Wang, Weikai
Delage, Erick
Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
For continuing tasks, average cost Markov decision processes have well-documented value and can be solved using efficient algorithms. However, it explicitly assumes that the agent is risk-neutral. In this work, we extend risk-neutral algorithms to accommodate the more general class of dynamic risk measures. Specifically, we propose a relative value iteration (RVI) algorithm for planning and design two model-free Q-learning algorithms, namely a generic algorithm based on the multi-level Monte Carlo (MLMC) method, and an off-policy algorithm dedicated to utility-based shortfall risk measures. Both the RVI and MLMC-based Q-learning algorithms are proven to converge to optimality. Numerical experiments validate our analysis, confirm empirically the convergence of the off-policy algorithm, and demonstrate that our approach enables the identification of policies that are finely tuned to the intricate risk-awareness of the agent that they serve.
title Planning and Learning in Average Risk-aware MDPs
topic Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17629