Abstract:Modern decision-making scenarios often involve data that is both high-dimensional and rich in higher-order contextual information, where existing bandits algorithms fail to generate effective policies. In response, we propose in this paper a generalized linear tensor bandits algorithm designed to tackle these challenges by incorporating low-dimensional tensor structures, and further derive a unified analytical framework of the proposed algorithm. Specifically, our framework introduces a convex optimization approach with the weakly decomposable regularizers, enabling it to not only achieve better results based on the tensor low-rankness structure assumption but also extend to cases involving other low-dimensional structures such as slice sparsity and low-rankness. The theoretical analysis shows that, compared to existing low-rankness tensor result, our framework not only provides better bounds but also has a broader applicability. Notably, in the special case of degenerating to low-rank matrices, our bounds still offer advantages in certain scenarios.
Abstract:In this paper, we aim to build a novel bandits algorithm that is capable of fully harnessing the power of multi-dimensional data and the inherent non-linearity of reward functions to provide high-usable and accountable decision-making services. To this end, we introduce a generalized low-rank tensor contextual bandits model in which an action is formed from three feature vectors, and thus can be represented by a tensor. In this formulation, the reward is determined through a generalized linear function applied to the inner product of the action's feature tensor and a fixed but unknown parameter tensor with a low tubal rank. To effectively achieve the trade-off between exploration and exploitation, we introduce a novel algorithm called "Generalized Low-Rank Tensor Exploration Subspace then Refine" (G-LowTESTR). This algorithm first collects raw data to explore the intrinsic low-rank tensor subspace information embedded in the decision-making scenario, and then converts the original problem into an almost lower-dimensional generalized linear contextual bandits problem. Rigorous theoretical analysis shows that the regret bound of G-LowTESTR is superior to those in vectorization and matricization cases. We conduct a series of simulations and real data experiments to further highlight the effectiveness of G-LowTESTR, leveraging its ability to capitalize on the low-rank tensor structure for enhanced learning.