Alex Slivkins theory seminar today
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David Kempe
Mar 6, 2026, 3:49:24 PMMar 6
to usc-theo...@googlegroups.com, USC-T...@googlegroups.com
Reminder: we have a bonus theory seminar by Alex Slivkins today
(03/06) in GCS 302C.
See below for the information.
> Hi everyone,
>
> in addition to our regular Thursday noon theory seminar, this week, we will
> have a bonus theory seminar on Friday, 03/06/2026, from 2:00-3:00pm. The talk
> will also be in our new home, GCS 302C.
> The speaker will be Alex Slivkins from Microsoft Research.
>
>
> Title: Bandit Social Learning: Exploration (Failures) under Exploitation
>
> Abstract: We consider social learning dynamics where the agents
> collectively face a multi-armed bandit problem. Self-interested
> users/customers ("agents") choose among available alternatives ("arms")
> under uncertainty on their quality. The agents return feedback on their
> experiences, which is aggregated and served back to the future agents. As
> individual agents are reluctant to explore for the sake of others, they may
> catastrophically fail to explore as a collective. The same concern underpins
> and motivates a huge, decades-long literature on algorithmic exploration in
> multi-armed bandits. Yet, this learning dynamics has been surprisingly
> poorly understood until recently. We study how it plays out, depending on
> the particularities of the agents' behavior and the underlying learning
> problem.
>
> Based on two papers: "Bandit Social Learning under Myopic Behavior"
> (NeurIPS'23; https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.07425) and "Greedy Algorithm for
> Structured Bandits" (NeurIPS'25; https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04010).
>
> Speaker: Alex Slivkins
> (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/slivkins/).
>
> Bio: Alex Slivkins is a Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research NYC.
> Some time ago he was a researcher at MSR Silicon
> Valley (now defunct), after receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell. His research
> interests span learning theory, algorithmic economics, and networks. He is
> particularly interested in exploration-exploitation tradeoff and its
> manifestations in socioeconomic environments. His work has been recognized
> with the best paper award at ACM EC 2010, the best paper nomination at WWW
> 2015, and the best student paper award at ACM PODC 2005. His book,
> "Introduction to Multi-Armed Bandits", has been published (with online
> revisions) in 2019-2024.
>
> --
> David Kempe <david....@gmail.com>
>
--
David Kempe <david....@gmail.com>
(03/06) in GCS 302C.
See below for the information.
> Hi everyone,
>
> in addition to our regular Thursday noon theory seminar, this week, we will
> have a bonus theory seminar on Friday, 03/06/2026, from 2:00-3:00pm. The talk
> will also be in our new home, GCS 302C.
> The speaker will be Alex Slivkins from Microsoft Research.
>
>
> Title: Bandit Social Learning: Exploration (Failures) under Exploitation
>
> Abstract: We consider social learning dynamics where the agents
> collectively face a multi-armed bandit problem. Self-interested
> users/customers ("agents") choose among available alternatives ("arms")
> under uncertainty on their quality. The agents return feedback on their
> experiences, which is aggregated and served back to the future agents. As
> individual agents are reluctant to explore for the sake of others, they may
> catastrophically fail to explore as a collective. The same concern underpins
> and motivates a huge, decades-long literature on algorithmic exploration in
> multi-armed bandits. Yet, this learning dynamics has been surprisingly
> poorly understood until recently. We study how it plays out, depending on
> the particularities of the agents' behavior and the underlying learning
> problem.
>
> Based on two papers: "Bandit Social Learning under Myopic Behavior"
> (NeurIPS'23; https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.07425) and "Greedy Algorithm for
> Structured Bandits" (NeurIPS'25; https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04010).
>
> Speaker: Alex Slivkins
> (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/slivkins/).
>
> Bio: Alex Slivkins is a Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research NYC.
> Some time ago he was a researcher at MSR Silicon
> Valley (now defunct), after receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell. His research
> interests span learning theory, algorithmic economics, and networks. He is
> particularly interested in exploration-exploitation tradeoff and its
> manifestations in socioeconomic environments. His work has been recognized
> with the best paper award at ACM EC 2010, the best paper nomination at WWW
> 2015, and the best student paper award at ACM PODC 2005. His book,
> "Introduction to Multi-Armed Bandits", has been published (with online
> revisions) in 2019-2024.
>
> --
> David Kempe <david....@gmail.com>
>
--
David Kempe <david....@gmail.com>
Devansh Gupta
Mar 6, 2026, 4:56:51 PMMar 6
to usc-theo...@googlegroups.com, usc-theo...@googlegroups.com, USC-T...@googlegroups.com
Hi all,
Please find attached the zoom link to today's talk by Alex Slivkins: https://usc.zoom.us/j/6555952212.
Best,
Devansh
On Fri, Mar 6, 2026 at 12:49 PM David Kempe <david....@gmail.com> wrote:
Reminder: we have a bonus theory seminar by Alex Slivkins today (03/06) in GCS 302C. See below for the information. > Hi everyone, > > in addition to our regular Thursday noon theory seminar, this week, we will > have a bonus theory seminar on Friday, 03/06/2026, from 2:00-3:00pm. The talk > will also be in our new home, GCS 302C. > The speaker will be Alex Slivkins from Microsoft Research. > > > Title: Bandit Social Learning: Exploration (Failures) under Exploitation > > Abstract: We consider social learning dynamics where the agents > collectively face a multi-armed bandit problem. Self-interested > users/customers ("agents") choose among available alternatives ("arms") > under uncertainty on their quality. The agents return feedback on their > experiences, which is aggregated and served back to the future agents. As > individual agents are reluctant to explore for the sake of others, they may > catastrophically fail to explore as a collective. The same concern underpins > and motivates a huge, decades-long literature on algorithmic exploration in > multi-armed bandits. Yet, this learning dynamics has been surprisingly > poorly understood until recently. We study how it plays out, depending on > the particularities of the agents' behavior and the underlying learning > problem. > > Based on two papers: "Bandit Social Learning under Myopic Behavior" > (NeurIPS'23; https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.07425__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!sgIw3yqGNuzIlXkT-04sRTz1xStVvTNkeWnk4XDNFgZGXi1rQzDPZfYMwDs0DkD_ZR0ibgnbSr5rQ-nIB50r5K4$) and "Greedy Algorithm for > Structured Bandits" (NeurIPS'25; https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04010__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!sgIw3yqGNuzIlXkT-04sRTz1xStVvTNkeWnk4XDNFgZGXi1rQzDPZfYMwDs0DkD_ZR0ibgnbSr5rQ-nIcSKB1N4$). > > Speaker: Alex Slivkins > (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/slivkins/__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!sgIw3yqGNuzIlXkT-04sRTz1xStVvTNkeWnk4XDNFgZGXi1rQzDPZfYMwDs0DkD_ZR0ibgnbSr5rQ-nIEH0-fAw$). > > Bio: Alex Slivkins is a Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research NYC. > Some time ago he was a researcher at MSR Silicon > Valley (now defunct), after receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell. His research > interests span learning theory, algorithmic economics, and networks. He is > particularly interested in exploration-exploitation tradeoff and its > manifestations in socioeconomic environments. His work has been recognized > with the best paper award at ACM EC 2010, the best paper nomination at WWW > 2015, and the best student paper award at ACM PODC 2005. His book, > "Introduction to Multi-Armed Bandits", has been published (with online > revisions) in 2019-2024. > > -- > David Kempe <david....@gmail.com> > -- David Kempe <david....@gmail.com> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USC Computer Science Theory Announcements" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usc-theory+...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usc-theory/86478d3e-1004-c2f3-ad4b-4669b8c8b947*40gmail.com__;JQ!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!sgIw3yqGNuzIlXkT-04sRTz1xStVvTNkeWnk4XDNFgZGXi1rQzDPZfYMwDs0DkD_ZR0ibgnbSr5rQ-nIiH76NwM$.
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