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 Civil Rights & Constitutional Law


Censored Semi-Bandits: A Framework for Resource Allocation with Censored Feedback

Neural Information Processing Systems

In this paper, we study Censored Semi-Bandits, a novel variant of the semi-bandits problem. The learner is assumed to have a fixed amount of resources, which it allocates to the arms at each time step. The loss observed from an arm is random and depends on the amount of resources allocated to it. More specifically, the loss equals zero if the allocation for the arm exceeds a constant (but unknown) threshold that can be dependent on the arm. Our goal is to learn a feasible allocation that minimizes the expected loss. The problem is challenging because the loss distribution and threshold value of each arm are unknown. We study this novel setting by establishing its'equivalence' to Multiple-Play Multi-Armed Bandits (MP-MAB) and Combinatorial Semi-Bandits. Exploiting these equivalences, we derive optimal algorithms for our setting using the existing algorithms for MP-MAB and Combinatorial Semi-Bandits. Experiments on synthetically generated data validate performance guarantees of the proposed algorithms.


Long-form factuality in large language models

Neural Information Processing Systems

Large language models (LLMs) often generate content that contains factual errors when responding to fact-seeking prompts on open-ended topics. To benchmark a model's long-form factuality in open domains, we first use GPT-4 to generate LongFact, a prompt set comprising thousands of questions spanning 38 topics. We then propose that LLM agents can be used as automated evaluators for longform factuality through a method which we call Search-Augmented Factuality Evaluator (SAFE). SAFE utilizes an LLM to break down a long-form response into a set of individual facts and to evaluate the accuracy of each fact using a multi-step reasoning process comprising sending search queries to Google Search and determining whether a fact is supported by the search results. Furthermore, we propose extending F1 score as an aggregated metric for long-form factuality.


A Multi-LexSum release

Neural Information Processing Systems

The authors are working on incorporating the script as part of the HuggingFace datasets library to further streamline the downloading and usage of Multi-LexSum. We include a similar instruction on the project website, https://multilexsum. github.io,


Multi-LexSum: Real-World Summaries of Civil Rights Lawsuits at Multiple Granularities

Neural Information Processing Systems

With the advent of large language models, methods for abstractive summarization have made great strides, creating potential for use in applications to aid knowledge workers processing unwieldy document collections.


54024fca0cef9911be36319e622cde38-Paper-Conference.pdf

Neural Information Processing Systems

Compared to prior work that performed red-teaming via recruited human workers, gradient-based optimization, or iterative revision with large language models (LLMs), our work investigates jailbreaks from chatbot users in-the-wild who were not specifically instructed to break the system.


Censored Quantile Regression Neural Networks for Distribution-Free Survival Analysis Tim Pearce

Neural Information Processing Systems

This paper considers doing quantile regression on censored data using neural networks (NNs). This adds to the survival analysis toolkit by allowing direct prediction of the target variable, along with a distribution-free characterisation of uncertainty, using a flexible function approximator. We begin by showing how an algorithm popular in linear models can be applied to NNs. However, the resulting procedure is inefficient, requiring sequential optimisation of an individual NN at each desired quantile. Our major contribution is a novel algorithm that simultaneously optimises a grid of quantiles output by a single NN. To offer theoretical insight into our algorithm, we show firstly that it can be interpreted as a form of expectation-maximisation, and secondly that it exhibits a desirable'self-correcting' property. Experimentally, the algorithm produces quantiles that are better calibrated than existing methods on 10 out of 12 real datasets.


Effective Dimension in Bandit Problems under Censorship

Neural Information Processing Systems

In this paper, we study both multi-armed and contextual bandit problems in censored environments. Our goal is to estimate the performance loss due to censorship in the context of classical algorithms designed for uncensored environments. Our main contributions include the introduction of a broad class of censorship models and their analysis in terms of the effective dimension of the problem - a natural measure of its underlying statistical complexity and main driver of the regret bound. In particular, the effective dimension allows us to maintain the structure of the original problem at first order, while embedding it in a bigger space, and thus naturally leads to results analogous to uncensored settings. Our analysis involves a continuous generalization of the Elliptical Potential Inequality, which we believe is of independent interest. We also discover an interesting property of decisionmaking under censorship: a transient phase during which initial misspecification of censorship is self-corrected at an extra cost; followed by a stationary phase that reflects the inherent slowdown of learning governed by the effective dimension. Our results are useful for applications of sequential decision-making models where the feedback received depends on strategic uncertainty (e.g., agents' willingness to follow a recommendation) and/or random uncertainty (e.g., loss or delay in arrival of information).


Effective Dimension in Bandit Problems under Censorship

Neural Information Processing Systems

In this paper, we study both multi-armed and contextual bandit problems in censored environments. Our goal is to estimate the performance loss due to censorship in the context of classical algorithms designed for uncensored environments. Our main contributions include the introduction of a broad class of censorship models and their analysis in terms of the effective dimension of the problem - a natural measure of its underlying statistical complexity and main driver of the regret bound. In particular, the effective dimension allows us to maintain the structure of the original problem at first order, while embedding it in a bigger space, and thus naturally leads to results analogous to uncensored settings. Our analysis involves a continuous generalization of the Elliptical Potential Inequality, which we believe is of independent interest. We also discover an interesting property of decisionmaking under censorship: a transient phase during which initial misspecification of censorship is self-corrected at an extra cost; followed by a stationary phase that reflects the inherent slowdown of learning governed by the effective dimension. Our results are useful for applications of sequential decision-making models where the feedback received depends on strategic uncertainty (e.g., agents' willingness to follow a recommendation) and/or random uncertainty (e.g., loss or delay in arrival of information).



Demographic Parity Constrained Minimax Optimal Regression under Linear Model

Neural Information Processing Systems

We explore the minimax optimal error associated with a demographic parityconstrained regression problem within the context of a linear model. Our proposed model encompasses a broader range of discriminatory bias sources compared to the model presented by Chzhen and Schreuder [6].